Rose Chronicles: Thorns
by HexManiacHana
Summary: Desperate to escape from her abusive guardian, little Hana makes a daring escape from Konoha. She then meets Orochimaru, who offers her a chance at a better life. She accepts, but she has no ides just how tough and challenging her new life will be. Will this little flower be able to flourish amongst the thorns?
1. A Fated Meeting

~A Flower Amongst Thorns~

Chapter One: Fated Meeting

All was silent in the village of Konoha that night. Hardly a soul could be seen wandering the darkened streets. For the most part, they were mainly people trying to make their way back to their homes from taverns and other such places. All they had on their minds was making it back home without incident and they didn't even notice the little girl ducking in and out of the alleyways.

The child was small and quiet, which made it easy for her to traverse the village without being seen or heard. This worked very well in her favor, as she needed to be as quiet as she possibly could so that she wouldn't get caught. If she were to be caught by the wrong person then she would most likely be sent back home, and she didn't want that. If anything, she wanted to be as far away from home as possible. She wanted to get away.

At the age of four, only two years ago, she was place in the care of a man named Yahiro Takashima after her foster parents died while defending the village during the Kyūbi's rampage. She hadn't expected anything to be different with him, but her expectations were shattered very quickly. Yahiro was a cruel and callous man and he treated the child very poorly. He despised having the child around and he made it very clear that he hated her. He would often beat the child for very minor reasons and he often neglected her, refusing to give her food for a few days at a time. Also…a few months after she had been placed in his care, Yahiro began taking her to a place that was located underneath the village. It was here where she was subjected to painful experiments. The experiments left her very weak. The child was left covered in bruises and she was constantly hungry. She was lucky that there were some people in the village that were actually willing to help her and give her some food. Other than those few people, the villagers didn't pay her any mind and ignored her.

After enduring this for two long years, she made up her mind to run away in hope of finding a new home and a chance at a better life.

Tonight was the perfect night for her to make her escape from the village. Yahiro was out for the night and he wouldn't be back until the next morning. Also, the village gates remained open until midnight, so if she left now then she would be in the clear. The only problem that she could see was if there was a person stationed at the gates in order to guard them. She would have to be extra careful if there was a guard present.

When she made it to the area near the village gates she ducked underneath a nearby bench and surveyed the area around her. The guard booth just inside the gates was empty, which gave her the perfect opening for an escape. She crawled out from underneath the bench and, without a second thought, she took off running towards the open gates. She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her and she kept running once she had crossed the border of the village.

She ran and ran until her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground in a heap. She lay there for some time, catching her breath and resting for a little while before continuing on her journey. Once the pain in her legs had subsided, she got back on her feet and continued to walk down the road away from the village.

After walking down the main road for a while, she wandered off the road and into the surrounding forest. She needed a place to hide and sleep for the night and she knew that the forest would be a good place to hide. There shouldn't be anyone wandering around the forest this late at night. So, she weaved through the thick layer of bushes and trees while she searched for a well concealed hiding place. She found a small formation of rocks that had a space large enough for her to crawl into.

She dropped to her knees and she crawled into the small space between the rocks. She lay on the cold ground, curling up into a tight ball in order to keep herself warm as she slept. Her eyes soon began to grow heavy and she slowly drifted off to sleep.

The child was jolted out of her light sleep by the sound of crunching grass and leaves that indicated that someone was approaching her hiding place. She stayed quiet and still in order to determine which direction that the footsteps were coming from. However, she couldn't figure out where they were coming from as they seemed to be coming from all directions.

The child began to panic.

Had someone followed her here? Had someone seen her leave the village and had tracked her down? Had Yahiro found her?

All she could do was cower in fear as the unknown person drew closer to where she was hidden. Fear washed over her as she lay there, trembling and unable to move. As the footsteps drew ever closer, her heart began to beat faster and faster, and when the footsteps ceased her mind started screaming at her to run. But she was frozen in place; her body just wouldn't move. She clamped her eyes shut and the only thought that ran through her mind was, 'go away'.

' _Go away…go away…go away!'_

"You can come out, little one. I'm not going to hurt you."

The child slowly opened her eyes upon hearing the voice. It didn't sound like Yahiro's voice, which was a very good thing in the girl's mind. Whoever this person was, they sounded somewhat friendly; so, albeit a bit hesitantly, she crawled out from her hiding place between the rocks.

The person was a tall man, someone that she had never seen before. His skin was a pale white and it contrasted greatly against his black hair. But what stood out the most to the girl were his eyes. They were gold in color and they could easily be seen in the darkness that surrounded them.

"You shouldn't be out in the forest so late at night. Your family must be very worried about you." he said to her.

The girl cast her eyes to the ground, becoming upset upon hearing the comment about having a worried family.

"I don't got a family…" she muttered.

"Is that so?" the man questioned, sounding a bit surprised at this revelation.

The man knelt down in front of the girl so that he was at eye level with her. The girl, in turn, refused to move her gaze from the ground and kept her head down.

"Do you have a guardian? Or…do you live by yourself?" he asked.

"I have a guardian, but…he's really mean to me." she answered.

The girl's claim seemed to be corroborated by the various bruises on her face and arms. Her clothes were also very dirty and tattered. The man concluded that the girl had been both physically abused and neglected by her guardian and she had run away from home to escape the abuse. That was why she was out here in the forest by herself; she had nowhere else to go.

"I see… You've suffered quite a bit under his care, haven't you." he said.

The girl nodded silently and she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Tell me little one, what is your name?" she asked her.

A quiet sniffle was her immediate reply. The tears that dripped onto her hand smeared the dirt that stained her skin.

"M-My name's Hana… Who're you?"

The man gave her a soft smile. Hana was still very tense and on edge as her trust in adults was very low. It wasn't his fault, though; Yahiro was the main cause of her fear. But, still, she didn't know if this man would take her back to Konoha or not. She would have to wait and see; if he was planning on taking her back, then she would take off running in the opposite direction.

"Hana…that's such a pretty name. As for me, my name is Orochimaru."

"It's n-nice to meet you, Orochimaru-san."

Despite her apparent nervousness and apprehension, she still had to be polite. She may have been an uneducated child, but she still had some semblance of manners. She may not have learned them from Yahiro, but she had learned some manners from some of Konoha's residents.

Orochimaru had noticed how timid and shy the child was. It was clear that she wasn't very trusting of adults due to the trauma that she had suffered.

He reached a hand out to her and gently placed it on her shoulder; he could feel her arm tense up at the unfamiliar touch.

"There's no need to be afraid child; I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I want to help you." he told her.

Now Hana was confused. Why would he want to help her? She was just a dirty little street rat; Yahiro had said it himself. Why would he help someone like her?

"B-But…why?" she asked.

"I see great potential in you, Hana. I believe that you will accomplish great things in your life and I want to help you reach your full potential. If you come with me, then you will become strong." he answered.

Did he really mean it? Would she really accomplish such great things when she was older? She almost couldn't believe it; it almost sounded too good to be true. Yet she was still so hesitant. Her distrust of adults made it difficult for her to make a final decision. She was afraid of being hurt again.

Orochimaru picked up on her hesitance rather quickly. The poor thing was still so afraid of being hurt again and it weighed very heavily on her mind. But Orochimaru knew just how to put her mind at ease.

"Hana, if you come with me then you won't have to live in fear of being hurt anymore. You will have a home and you will be safe. You just have to trust me." he said.

All she had to do was trust him…

It sounded so simple, and yet it was so difficult. She had her trust betrayed so many times before. However, the option that he had given her was the best one. She had to face the facts; she wasn't going to survive out here on her own.

Maybe she should put her trust in him after all.

"Okay…I'll go with you." she muttered.

The smile on Orochimaru's face grew even more. After some convincing, the child had accepted his offer. He was very, very happy with how everything had turned out.

"I'm to hear that, Hana. Now, I suggest that we start heading home. It is rather late you know." he said.

Orochimaru stood to his feet once more and he held his hand out to her. Hana slipped her tiny hand into his and he held her hand tight. His hand felt very warm, a stark contrast to Yahiro's. For the first time in quite a while, she actually smiled. For once, she actually felt happy.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

The two began their trek through the forest to make their way their way home. Along the way, Hana became very drowsy. Orochimaru offered to carry her the rest of the way and she accepted it without a second thought. Not long after, she fell into a somewhat peaceful sleep.

A smirk stretched across Orochimaru's pale features. He knew that this child would prove herself to be very useful to him in the future. She indeed had great potential and he had a feeling that she would become a powerful shinobi one day. Her training would be very difficult, but he knew that she would be able to make it through. If she had survived such harsh conditions before, then she would be able to survive the harsh training. She would succeed in whatever daunting task that she would be given.

He was absolutely sure of it.


	2. Introductions & Revelations

Collide

Chapter 2

"Hana…Hana…wake up, dear. We're home."

Hana opened her eyes slowly, and she carefully observed her surroundings. She couldn't see much. The area around her was dark, with only a few candles to light the way. This wasn't good. Hana was not fond of dark places. At all. She absolutely hated them.

"Orochimaru, it's dark here. W-Where are we?" she asked him.

An amused smile stretched across Orochimaru's face as he ran a hand through the girl's dirty, matted hair.

"This is your new home, dear. You'll be living here with me from now on." he replied.

Orochimaru continued walking down the long hallway, eventually stopping in front of one of the closed doors. He knocked on the door, and, after a moment or two, a woman with long, lavender-colored hair opened the door and stepped out into the hall.

"Ah! G-Good morning, Orochimaru-sama, did you need something?" she asked him.

"Yes, Setsuna, I have a favor to ask of you." he responded.

Orochimaru set Hana down on her feet.

"This is Hana; she will be living here with us from this day forward. Setsuna, I need you to take care of her for a little while; make sure that she gets cleaned up." he said.

Setsuna nodded in response.

"Yes, sir, I'll take care of her." she replied.

Setsuna held her hand out to the girl, and Hana hesitantly took it. She looked back up at Orochimaru with a look in her eyes that begged him not to go.

Orochimaru placed his hand gently on the child's head.

"Don't worry, dear, I'll be back soon. Just stay here with Setsuna for a little while, alright?" he said.

Hana nodded, but she kept silent. Setsuna pulled the girl into the room and she shut the door behind them. Before the door closed, Hana caught a glimpse of Orochimaru walking away.

Setsuna picked Hana up and she carried her into the bathroom. Once they were inside, she set the girl down on the counter.

"Okay, first off, let's get all of that dirt out of your hair." she said.

Hana nodded once again, still not saying a word.

Setsuna smiled at her.

"Alright then, lie down on the counter and I'll start washing your hair, okay?" she told her.

Hana did as she was told and she lay down on the counter with her head facing the sink. Setsuna started running the water, waiting for it to warm up before she started washing the dirt out of the girl's hair. Hana remained completely still as Setsuna washed her hair. She was afraid that Setsuna would get mad at her if she moved even a little bit.

It took a little while for Setsuna to wash all of the dirt out of the child's hair. The dirt had caked up so badly that she really had to work hard to get all of it out. She astonished at how matted and dirty her hair was, and she wondered how on earth someone allowed this to happen. Once she had finally gotten all of the dirt out and all of the mats untangled, she helped Hana sit back up.

"Alright, now that that's out of the way, would you mind if I cut your hair a little bit? It's awfully long…" she asked.

"You can…if you want to." Hana replied, quietly.

Setsuna took a pair of scissors out of one of the drawers and then she started to cut the girl's hair. She cut it short so that it stopped just above her shoulders.

"There we go. Your hair is much shorter now and you can see better." Setsuna said.

"Th-Thank you…" Hana replied, her voice still low and quiet.

Setsuna picked the child up and set her back down on her feet. Hana's attention was now on her short hair. It felt nice to have shorter hair; Yahiro didn't care enough to make sure that her hair was kept clean and manageable. Then again, he didn't really care about anything that related to her. Setsuna smiled when she saw this. It seemed like the child was happy about her short hair.

The next thing that needed to be done was to give the child a bath. She was covered in dirt and it really seemed like the last person that had taken care of her didn't care about the child's hygiene.

"Okay kiddo, I think it's time we gave you a bath. I'll get the water started for you and then I'll go find some new clothes for you. You're able to bathe yourself, right?" she asked.

Hana only nodded silently.

Setsuna turned on the tub faucet and she waited with her back turned until Hana had gotten in the tub.

"Alright, I'm going to find you some clean clothes to wear. Just call me when you're ready to get out." she said.

Once again, Hana only nodded silently. Setsuna walked back into the adjoining room while keeping the door about halfway open. She searched through some of her daughter Yomi's old clothed in order to find something for Hana to wear. Some of the clothes looked like they would fit her, but all of them were a little too big. She eventually found some clothes that could possibly fit her, and only a minute or so after, she heard Hana calling for her.

"S-Setsuna-san…I'm ready to get out."

Setsuna walked back into the bathroom, clothes in hand, and after she set them down she grabbed a towel and she helped the girl out of the tub. She wrapped the towel around Hana's frail body and she helped her dry off before handing the girl her new clothes.

"These used to be my daughter's, so they may be a little big for you. They'll have to do until we can get you some clothes of your own." she said.

"I understand…"

Setsuna turned around so the girl could dress herself. Once she had finished, she tugged on Setsuna's sleeve to let her know. Setsuna turned around and she gave the girl a warm smile.

"There we go, you're all cleaned up now. Do you feel any better?" she asked.

"Y-Yes, ma'am, I do…" the child replied.

"That's good to hear. Now, let's go and find Orochimaru-sama." Setsuna stated.

Hana lowered her head and a quiet whine escaped her throat.

"Hm? Hana, what's wrong? Are you alright?" Setsuna asked her, kneeling down so that she was nearly at eye level with the child.

Hana covered her stomach with her small arms and she looked back up.

"I-I'm really hungry." she answered.

Setsuna stood back up.

"Well then, let's go and find something for you to eat, okay?" she asked, holding her hand out to the girl.

Hana nodded and she took Setsuna's hand. Setsuna led her out of the room and through the halls to a small kitchen. She sat Hana down at the small table and then got to work on making something for the girl to eat. Hana sat there quietly, looking down and swinging her tiny legs back and forth. Once everything was finished, Setsuna set a plate of onigiri and a bowl of miso soup in front of the girl. Hana's eyes lit up at the sight of all of the food. She hadn't seen this much food in such a long time, and she was really hungry.

Almost immediately, Hana grabbed the bowl of soup and she gulped it down pretty quickly. She grabbed one of the rice balls next and she gobbled it down pretty quickly, too. Setsuna was amazed at how fast the child was eating. It was as if she hadn't been fed in a while; at least a few days.

"Hana, please slow down. You're going to choke if you keep eating so fast." she said.

Hana stopped and she swallowed the mouthful of rice.

"I-I'm sorry. I haven't eaten for a long time, and I'm really hungry…"

Setsuna's eyes went wide in shock when she heard this; it seemed as though her assumptions were correct. She was about to respond to this, but another person beat her to it.

"I see; so the abuse went further than just the beatings and isolation. How awful…"

Both Setsuna and Hana looked up to see Orochimaru standing in the entryway. Setsuna immediately stood up and gave a low bow.

"Setsuna, you may take your leave now. I can handle everything from here." he said.

Setsuna gave a quick nod and she walked hurriedly out of the kitchen. Once she had left, Orochimaru sat down in the chair across from Hana. The two of them stayed quiet until Hana had finished eating the rice ball in her hands.

"Well, are you feeling any better now Hana?" he asked her.

Hana nodded silently and she picked up another rice ball and she took a bite.

"I see, that's good to hear. Now, I need to ask you a few questions about your time in Konoha. I know that you might not want to talk about this, but try to tell me as much as you can, alright?"

Hana froze. She didn't want to talk about that; not at all. Why did he want to know about all of that? She didn't understand. But, maybe if she told him, he could help keep those people away from her. Maybe he could keep her safe.

"O-Okay…I'll tell you." she answered.

Orochimaru gave her a soft smile.

"Thank you, dear. Now, just take your time; there's no rush." he said.

Again, there was silence for a minute or two before Hana spoke again. Her voice was shaky and sounded even more timid and shy than it had been before.

"I hated it there. Yahiro was really mean to me; he would hit me a lot and he would make me stay in a dark room all by myself. He wouldn't let me eat anything sometimes too. He a-also made me be part of his e-ex-experiments. He would stick needles in my arms and if I cried, he would hit me even more. There was also an old man with a cane. He wasn't there a lot, but he was mean to me too. He would hit me with his cane if I was crying or if I talked back…" she told him.

Orochimaru listened closely to the child's story. The poor thing had gone through so much in her short life and it was no wonder that she was so timid around people. He had an idea as to who the old man with the cane was. It was probably Danzo; hell, he was positive that it was Danzo. He wouldn't put it past him to do something like this.

Orochimaru was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the child sniffling. He looked up and he saw her crying. This was hard for her to do, and she didn't want to relive the nightmare that she had escaped from.

"I-I don't want to go back! They'll kill me if I go back! I'm scared; I don't want to die!" she cried.

Orochimaru went over to the girl and he knelt beside her. He placed a hand on her cheek and he wiped the tears away with his thumb.

"Hana, everything is going to be alright. I'm not going to let them kill you; I'm won't even let them come near you. You're safe here. Do you understand?" he asked her.

Hana nodded and she rubbed at her eyes to make the tears go away. Then, with no warning at all, Hana flung herself into Orochimaru's arms. She buried her face in the man's shoulder and she continued to sob. Orochimaru was definitely taken aback by this, but he wrapped his arms around the girl and held her as she cried. He got up off of the ground and he sat back in the chair and he waited for the girl to cry herself out. It took some time, but her cries eventually began to die down and became soft whimpers. Soon after that, they stopped altogether. She had actually cried herself to sleep.

When Orochimaru noticed that the child had fallen asleep, he sighed and he stood back up. He carried the child through the darkened halls and to a room that he had set up for her. He carefully laid her down, making sure that her head was actually on the pillow, and he pulled the blanket up to her shoulders. He left the room silently, leaving the door open just enough to let a little bit of light enter the room. Her room wasn't far from his own, so she wouldn't have to go far if she went looking for him. If she called for him, he would be able to hear her.

He still had many more questions that he wanted to ask her. However, he would ask those questions later. Right now, the child needed to sleep. She had already been through enough today.


	3. Search and Rescue: Part One

~A Flower Amongst Thorns~

Chapter Three

A year or so had gone by since Orochimaru had taken Hana in. The girl had been very shy during the first few months, but she slowly started to warm up to the other people around her. She was actually a very sweet and kind child in spite of her previous surroundings and the horrible treatment that she had endured. However, she stayed close to Orochimaru, often trailing behind him like a second shadow. Many of the other people that worked for Orochimaru didn't really like the fact that the child would follow Orochimaru around the way she did, however they didn't dare say anything. Except for this one woman who would pull the girl aside and scold her, saying that she was being very disrespectful. This action, in turn, would cause Orochimaru to retaliate; he didn't mind the girl being near him, and he didn't appreciate them scolding her for something like this. It wasn't their place to do this, and if she did something that would merit being scolded, then he would take care of it.

It was also around this time that Hana started calling Orochimaru 'Chi-Chi'. It was a cute little nickname, and, oddly enough, Orochimaru actually found the name endearing. However, this also led to Hana being yelled at by the same worker. Again, Orochimaru would step in and defend her, saying that she was just a young child and young children would often do this. He also said that she had trouble pronouncing his name at times. The nickname made it easier and she would grow out of it as she got older.

On this particular day, the two of them were outside in an open area of the forest. Orochimaru had decided to start the girl's training early and they were starting with handling shuriken and kunai properly. The chakra control training would have to wait until a certain issue was resolved. For reasons that Orochimaru didn't quite understand at the moment, Hana's chakra wasn't entirely stable and would burn the child's hands whenever she would try to use it. So, he decided to hold off on teaching her chakra control until he could find a way to help her control it. For now, they would stick to basic weapons training and other basic subjects

A simple target had been set up against a tree and Hana was throwing shuriken at the target. Orochimaru was standing behind her, keeping an eye on her. The child was trying to hit the center of the target and was becoming increasingly frustrated as she kept missing her mark.

"Chi-Chi, I can't hit the middle of the target. Can you help me?" she asked.

Orochimaru nodded and he knelt down beside her.

"Alright, let's see what we can do. Hold your arm out for me." he told her.

Hana did as she was told and she held her arm out towards the target, shuriken in hand. Orochimaru moved her arm so that it was aligned with the center of the target.

"Now, try hitting the target again." he said.

Hana nodded and she threw the shuriken at the target. It hit, but it just barely missed the center. Hana's disappointment was evident on her face.

"I missed again…" she said, defeated.

Orochimaru placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Now, now, there's no reason to get so upset. You're still learning, and these things take time to master. You just need to keep practicing." he told her.

Hana only nodded and responded with a very quiet, "Okay…"

Then, another voice rang out.

"Stop coddling her like that! The only way she'll improve is if you discipline her when she makes a mistake!" it called out.

The source of the voice was a man who was standing a couple of meters away from them. He was tall, with dark green hair and grey eyes. He wore a white lab-coat over his Konoha jonin uniform.

Orochimaru stood to his feet, allowing Hana to hide behind him.

"She is my student and I will use whatever teaching methods that I see fit. Just who are you anyway?" he questioned.

The man stepped towards them and this action caused Hana to hide herself even more. Orochimaru noticed how timid and fearful the child had become, and he had two theories as to why; either she knew the man personally or it was the fact that he was a shinobi from Konoha that frightened her so much.

"My name's Yahiro Takashima. I was in charge of looking after the kid before she ran away. I've spent the last year trying to find her, and now that I have I'm taking her back to Konoha with me." he stated.

Ah, so she did know this man, and it was the same man that had mistreated her so badly while she was under his care. No wonder she was so afraid of him.

Orochimaru knelt down and he pulled the girl close. Hana gripped the front of his kimono tight and huddled against him; her small body was trembling. She was terrified; she was terrified of this man and she didn't want to go anywhere with him. All she wanted was for him to disappear forever.

Orochimaru wasn't going to let him take the girl back to Konoha. The poor child had suffered enough because of him and there was no way that he was going to allow that to happen again. She wasn't going anywhere with Yahiro.

"Hana…" he whispered, his voice quiet enough for only the child to hear.

Hana looked up, not verbally responding to him. She was too afraid to speak.

"Hana, I need you to listen very closely to what I'm about to tell you. When I stand up, get behind me as quickly as possible and then run back inside. Find a place to hide and I'll come and find you when this is all over. Do you understand?" he asked.

Hana gave a quick nod in response. She understood everything that he had told her.

Orochimaru stood to his feet once more, allowing Hana to hide behind him again. The girl waited until he began speaking to Yahiro again and then she started running. She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, but she didn't get very far.

A high-pitched scream echoed throughout the forest, catching Orochimaru's attention immediately. He turned around to see Yahiro standing there, holding Hana's arm in a vice-like grip as she desperately tried to get away.

He had tricked them!

When Orochimaru turned around to face the man that he had been speaking to, the man vanished in a puff of smoke.

A shadow clone. Of course.

He turned back to Yahiro, his expression dark and his eyes seemed to almost glow with anger.

"Let her go. Now." he demanded.

Yahiro merely scoffed at Orochimaru's demands.

"You don't have any right to be giving me any orders. This brat is going back to Konoha with me, whether you like it or not." he replied.

Orochimaru reached down and he picked up one of the kunai that lay at his feet. If he wasn't going to let her go willingly, then he would have to force him to.

"It doesn't matter if I have any right. You will release her and I will use force if necessary." Orochimaru told him.

Then, without any warning, Orochimaru charged at the man, kunai in hand. He had the intent to kill and he was more than willing to go through with it. However, before he could manage to land a hit Yahiro vanished right before the kunai could pierce his flesh. Orochimaru skidded to a halt and he looked around frantically for any sign of them, but there were none. They were gone.

Orochimaru gripped the kunai in his hand tighter and he grit his teeth. He couldn't believe that Yahiro had managed to get away. He was angry- no, he was outraged. That little rat had gotten lucky this time, but one thing was for sure, it wasn't going to happen again.

Orochimaru heard fast approaching footsteps and he quickly turned around to face whoever it was. Luckily, it was Setsuna; she must have heard Hana scream and had come out to investigate.

"Orochimaru-sama, what happened? What on earth is going on?" she asked.

He sighed and then flung the kunai at a nearby tree, which frightened Setsuna.

"Hana's been taken. Her former guardian took her and they're on their way back to Konoha as we speak." he explained.

Setsuna gasped in horror. That awful man had taken that poor child back to that hell she had escaped from.

"Oh, my god…What are we going to do?" she asked. She was very concerned with the child's well-being.

Orochimaru took a deep breath and he started walking back towards the hideout. He was going to take the girl back before she was killed by that man.

"We're going to find her and bring her back home. We leave in ten minutes." he stated.

Setsuna gave him a quick "Yes, sir!" and she rushed back into the hideout to prepare.

Orochimaru waited outside of the hideout for Setsuna, going over all of the locations of Konoha's underground tunnels and the entrances to said tunnels and making a mental note of them. Knowing Danzo, he would probably have Yahiro keep the girl locked up somewhere underground. No one would know that she was there, and no one would look for her.

That is…except for him.  
He would search for her, and he would find her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Get in there you little shit!"

Yahiro violently shoved Hana into a small cage and he locked the door. He took a couple of steps back and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You gave us a lot of trouble kid. Danzo was on my ass for months after you ran off like that. Now that you're back, we need to figure out what we're going to do with you. So, you're staying in there for now." he said as he was walking out the door.

Once the door had shut and she had been left alone in the dark room, Hana curled up against the back of the cage, pulling her knees up to her chest. She started crying softly, knowing that she would get in trouble if Yahiro were to hear her.

She was all alone, and she was so scared. She didn't know if she was going to live through this or not. From her perspective, she probably wouldn't.

She wanted to go home so badly. She was safe back home and there were people there that actually cared about her. If she could escape from this place she would, but Yahiro made it impossible by locking her in this cage.

All she could do now was wait and hope that someone would save her from this nightmare.


	4. Search and Rescue: Part Two

~A Flower Amongst Thorns~

Chapter Four

A day had passed before Orochimaru and Setsuna arrived on the outskirts of Konoha. Once they were there they immediately began to search for an entrance to the underground tunnels. Using Orochimaru's knowledge of the area, they searched the perimeter until they happened across a rusted iron door that had been attached to a rock face. Going off of a shared hunch, they opened they rusted door and entered into the tunnels.

The tunnels were dark and eerily quiet; there wasn't a soul to be seen or heard. The only sounds that could be heard were the echoing of their footsteps against the stone floors. As they ventured deeper into the complex, they came across a room that was, strangely, lit. They were careful upon entering, as to not trigger any sort of trap; however the room didn't seem to be rigged. On one side of the room there was a desk, and on that desk were a small key and a file. Thinking that it would be useful later on, Orochimaru took the key. He picked up the file next, out of curiosity, and he was shocked at what was written inside. The information that had been written down and stored in this file was about Hana; everything from date of birth to blood type had been recorded. He handed the file to Setsuna, ordering her to hold on to it.

They continued on until they reached another iron door at the very end of the corridor. As it was the only door left in this corridor, they had no choice but to check inside the room. Orochimaru opened the door and he stepped inside. Although there was no source of light, he could see that the only object in the room was a small cage located in the center of the room. In order to see what could possibly be inside he knelt down in front of the cage. Inside was the trembling form of a small child curled up against the back wall. He knew that it was her.

"Hana…" he whispered, attempting to draw the girl's attention towards him.

The child slowly lifted her head to see who had called her name and when she saw Orochimaru her eyes lit up.

"Chi-Chi…!"

She hurriedly crawled to the front of the cage and she reached her hand through the space between the bars. Orochimaru took the child's hand in his own and held it tight.

"You really came looking for me…" she said.

"Of course I did. Did you really think that I would just leave you here?" he asked her.

In all honesty she had started to believe that no one would come looking for her. Yahiro had left her in here all alone and no one had come through the door until now. But she was happy that Orochimaru had found her. Now she could go home.

"Hana, I'm going to try and open the door. I need you to back up a little bit." he told her.

Hana nodded and she moved back so that he could open the door. Orochimaru took the key that he had found and inserted it into the lock. He turned it and when he heard it click, he pulled the door open. Once the door was open, Hana rushed out and she threw her arms around Orochimaru's neck and she hugged him tight. Orochimaru held the child close as she cried into his shoulder.

"There, there, little one. You're safe now; we're going home." he whispered.

"I don't think so." another voice replied.

Orochimaru glanced over his shoulder only to see Yahiro and two ANBU standing in front of the door. He sighed in irritation; this little rat just wouldn't give up.

"You are a persistent one, aren't you? While I do find your persistence impressive, it is really beginning to irritate me. This child does not belong here. I am taking her home, and you will not stop me." he stated.

Yahiro laughed at him; he wasn't taking anything that Orochimaru had said seriously.

"Hah! You really think that you'll be able to save the little brat? That's highly unlikely. You may be one of the Legendary Sannin, but you won't be able to stand against me!" he replied.

Was Yahiro really that stupid? He knew of Orochimaru's status as one of the Legendary Sannin, and yet he claimed that Orochimaru wouldn't be able to stand against him. It was laughable. It seemed as though he would have to show Yahiro just how wrong he was.

"Hana, go stand with Setsuna and cover your eyes. You don't need to see what's about to happen." he ordered.

Hana did as she was told and she ran over to Setsuna. Setsuna picked the child up and she made sure that she couldn't see what was about to happen. In all honesty, Setsuna herself didn't want to witness this either; she knew that it was going to be brutal.

Orochimaru stood to his feet and turned to face Yahiro and the other two.

"You're quite the cocky one, you know. Although, perhaps a bit too cocky. Your hubris and overconfidence in your own abilities will be your undoing." he said.

Without another word, Orochimaru lunged at the three men. He managed to take one of the ANBU's weapons and he effortlessly slaughtered the two masked men. As the men's bodies hit the floor, Orochimaru began to slowly approach Yahiro; agonizingly slowly. The man's true colors began to show as he backed away and into a corner. He was nothing but a coward. A coward with an over-inflated ego.

Orochimaru punched Yahiro in the gut and as he went down, Orochimaru hit the back of his neck which effectively knocked him out. Once the deed had been done, Orochimaru turned back to Setsuna.

"We need to leave. Now." he ordered.

The two of them, with Hana in tow, rushed out of the underground complex and into the surrounding forest. They had to make it across the Land of Fire's border with the land directly northeast of Konoha. Once they had made it across the border, they would be safe and out of Konoha's reach.

They stopped to rest on the outskirts of a small town. This gave them an opportunity to check and see if Hana had sustained any sort of injuries. Unfortunately, she had been injured.

Setsuna called Orochimaru over to the tree stump where the child was sitting. She moved over so that Orochimaru could see the large bruises on Hana's face and left arm. Orochimaru was honestly shocked at the sight of the bruise on Hana's face. He also noticed a bit of dried blood under her nose. Yahiro must have slapped her hard enough to cause her nose to bleed. Orochimaru calmly told Setsuna to take care of the child's injuries and he stepped away in order to cool off; he was very upset.

Setsuna gently took the girl's hand and held her arm out. She held her other hand over the injury and her hand began to glow a pale green with healing chakra. Hana watched, with eyes wide in amazement, as the bruise vanished. Once it was gone, Setsuna moved to the bruise on her cheek.

"Is Chi-Chi mad at me?" Hana asked, breaking the silence.

Setsuna shook her head no.

"No, he's not mad at you. He's mad at Yahiro for hurting you the way he did." she replied.

Hana looked over to where Orochimaru was standing. Even though none of this was her fault, she still felt terrible. She hopped down from the tree stump she had been sitting on and she walked over to him. She reached up and tugged on his sleeve, which caught his attention.

He knelt down so that he was at eye-level with the child.

"What's the matter, little one? Is something wrong?" he asked.

Hana, without saying a word, wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and hugged him.

"I'm sorry Chi-Chi…" she said.

"Sorry? For what? You haven't done anything wrong dear." he replied.

Hana let go and she took a step back. She sniffed and rubbed at her eyes.

"I did what you said, but Yahiro caught me. I didn't run fast enough…" she sobbed.

Orochimaru placed his hands on the child's shoulders.

"Hana, listen to me. None of this was your fault. Yahiro tricked us both; it's his fault, not yours." he told her.

Hana nodded and she continued to rub at her eyes. Orochimaru took a moment to think of a way to cheer her up. Maybe they could find something in the town.

"I have an idea; how about we go into town and see if we can find something for you to eat. I'm sure you must be hungry." he said.

Hana merely nodded in response.

Orochimaru stood up and he took the child's hand in his own. They started walking towards the entrance to the town, only stopping for a moment to tell Setsuna where they were going.

"Alright, but I would recommend that you change your appearance before you go, Orochimaru-sama. You don't know who might be watching." she warned.

"Yes, I know. I was just about to take care of that." he replied.

Orochimaru made a quick hand-sign and his appearance began to change. He took on the appearance of a man in his early thirties with mid-length brown hair and blue eyes. Anyone who saw them would simply think that he was a father walking with his daughter. No one would ever suspect it was him in disguise.

Once they had entered the town, Orochimaru looked down at the child who held his hand tight.

"Stay close to me; don't go wandering off."

"Ok…"

They walked along the towns somewhat crowded streets until they stumbled upon a little shop that sold mochi. They stopped there and he bought some mochi for the girl, who waved and said 'thank you' to the shop keeper as they made their way back to the main street. As they were walking back towards the entrance of the town, something caught Hana's attention and she stopped in her tracks. Orochimaru stopped as well and he turned to see what had caught the girl's eye.

There, in the window of a small shop, was a plush doll in the form of a snake. Orochimaru couldn't help but smile at the irony of the moment. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to buy the doll for her.

"I'll buy the doll for you if you really want it, Hana." he said.

Hana smiled brightly and she nodded.

Orochimaru told her to wait outside for him and he walked into the shop, returning a few minutes later with the doll in hand. He handed the doll to Hana, who took it and hugged it tight.

"Thank you, Chi-Chi!" she said happily.

"Think nothing of it dear. Now, I think it's about time for us to start heading home." he replied.

They made their way out of the town and met up with Setsuna again. Once Orochimaru's appearance had gone back to normal the three continued on their journey back to the hideout. About an hour into the journey, Hana started to lag behind; she was tired and wanted to go to sleep. So, Orochimaru picked her up and carried her the rest of the way.

When they finally arrived, night had already fallen and Hana was already fast asleep. Orochimaru handed the child over to Setsuna so that she could put the child to bed. In the meantime, he would look over the file that they had found while scouring the tunnels. This was definitely the file that Danzo kept about the girl; whatever information that this folder contained would surely be important in the long-run. He could only hope that it would help, rather than hurt.


	5. Stranger Like Me

~A Flower Amongst Thorns~

Chapter Five: Stranger Like Me

Three months had gone by since the kidnapping incident had occurred. During this time, the group was forced to relocate to another hideout due to the fact that Yahiro knew of their location and he could have possibly leaked that information to Danzo and some of Konoha's higher ups. So, Orochimaru had the group move from the mainland and to the Land of Water. This temporary hideout was located near the coast and a safe distance away from Kirigakure. They wouldn't be staying there for very long; it was only until the manhunt died down and they could move to the hideout in the Land of Rice Fields.

The move wasn't easy for Hana. She didn't want to leave and she protested multiple times. During the boat ride there, Hana became ill, which made the trip an even worse experience for her. She was sick for a few more days after they had arrived and Orochimaru attributed her illness to the stress of the move and the sudden change in environment.

Despite this hideout only being meant for a temporary stay, they ended up staying there for almost two whole years. The manhunt that had been orchestrated by Danzo was still ongoing and they couldn't return to the mainland until it had died down. Knowing of Konoha's strained relationship with Kirigakure, Orochimaru thought that it would be best for them to remain in the Land of Water until it was safe to return to the mainland. Despite not wanting to be there at first, Hana got used to her new surroundings over time. Still, she found the land rather gloomy due to the mist that constantly covered the land.

One day, during the second year of their stay, Orochimaru informed both Hana and Setsuna that he would be gone for a few days. Hana asked if she could go with him, but he said no and this upset the nine-year-old very much. So during the time he was gone, Hana sat around and waited for him to return.

After about five days, he finally returned home. When Hana was told that he was on his way home, she rushed outside to greet him. Setsuna, not wanting the child to wander around outside on her own, waited with her. Hana was very impatient and she couldn't stop pacing around and fidgeting. When she saw Orochimaru approaching in the distance Hana took off running towards him.

"Orochimaru!"

When Orochimaru saw the girl running towards him, he smiled and he held his arms out to catch the girl when nearly tackled him into a hug.

"Welcome home!" she told him.

"Thank you, dear. I wasn't expecting such a warm welcome."

Hana looked up to him and she smiled brightly.

"I really missed you. Where did you go?" she questioned.

Orochimaru placed a gentle hand on the girl's head and ruffled her hair a bit.

"You are a curious one, aren't you? However, I'm afraid that I can't tell you where I've been." he answered.

Hana's smile disappeared and she started to pout.

"Aww…but why not?" she whined.

"Now let's not start whining, alright? You don't need to know where I've been. Do you understand?" he stated.

Hana frowned and she looked down to the ground. Now she felt bad; she didn't mean to pester him about where he had gone. She was just curious. But, maybe it was best that she didn't question him about it any further. It would only upset him more if she kept asking.

"I'm sorry…" she said quietly.

"It's alright dear. I understand that you're curious, but there are some things that I can't tell you. This is for your own good, do you understand?" he asked.

Hana only gave a quiet nod as her answer.

Orochimaru smiled and he gave the girl a pat on the head.

"Good girl. Now then, there's someone here that I want to introduce you to," he said, turning his head to face someone else, "Kimimaro, would you come here for a moment?"

He had brought someone with him? Who was it?

Hana leaned to the side to try and get a good view of whoever it was. It was a boy who looked like he was around her age, maybe even a year or so younger than she was. Honestly it was hard to tell since they were around the same height. His hair was white and it was just about as long as Hana's and his eyes were a vivid deep green. There was something about this boy that just resonated with Hana, but she couldn't understand why. It was strange to her.

"Hana, this is Kimimaro. He will be staying with us from here on out. I hope that the two of you can get along." Orochimaru told her.

Kimimaro bowed politely to Hana.

"It's nice to meet you." he said.

Hana repeated the gesture, bowing as well.

"It's nice to meet you too." she replied.

Orochimaru was very impressed by the way things were going so far. The two of them seemed to be getting along fairly well so far, and hopefully it would remain that way. Only time would tell if this would actually last or not.

Later on that day, sometime during the evening, Hana was sitting alone in her room. She was sitting at her desk and reading over some of the scrolls that Orochimaru had given her to study. But now she was getting bored and was now starting to doze off.

"Why do I have to read all these scrolls? It's so boring; I wish I could go outside and actually practice…" she thought.

She sighed and she continued reading until she heard someone knocking on her door.

"Come in." she called, not looking up from the scroll she was reading.

The door opened and Kimimaro walked into the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Hana-san, are you busy right now?" he asked.

Hana looked up from her scroll and looked over to him.

"No, I'm not busy. What's up?" she answered.

She jumped down from her chair and she walked over to Kimimaro. She smiled, which put the boy at ease.

"Well, Orochimaru-sama wanted me to come and talk to you. I wanted to wait until you weren't busy." he said.

"You wanted to talk to me? Sure! I don't mind at all!" Hana replied.

She sat down on her bed and she motioned for Kimimaro to sit down beside her; and he did.

"So what do you want to talk about?" she asked him.

"Orochimaru-sama said that we've shared similar life experiences. I want to know what happened to you." he answered.

Hana's eyes widened in shock; it had been a long time since anyone had asked her about that and it really surprised her when Kimimaro asked. Honestly she didn't want to talk about it; it made her very uncomfortable. But…maybe it wouldn't hurt to talk to Kimimaro about it. Maybe…Maybe he would understand.

"I…" she paused for a moment to swallow the lump in her throat, "I lived in Konoha before Orochimaru found me. The person that was supposed to take care of me kept me locked up and he would beat me if I did something that he didn't like…or if he was drunk. He also used me in his experiments and they ended up damaging my chakra network. I overheard him and someone else saying that they were gonna kill me, so I ran away. Orochimaru found me after that and he's taken care of me ever since."

Kimimaro listened to her story closely and he was surprised to hear that she had been locked away too. But she had been locked up for a completely different reason than he had.

"You've lived a hard life, Hana-san, and I'm sorry to hear that you suffered so much. What you went through…it must have been horrible." he whispered.

Hana wiped away the tears that had begun to fall. She knew that she would cry if she started talking about this again; it always happened.

"It was…It was horrible. I hate that stupid village and I hope it burns to the ground!" she cried. Her voice was filled with anger and hatred.

Her anger was understandable and very much justified; she had every right to be angry at the people who had wronged her. Kimimaro could sympathize with her.

"I understand how you feel." he told her.

"Y-You do…?" she asked.

"Yeah, I do. My clan kept me locked away too. But…it was for a different reason." he replied.

Hana's curiosity and her concern for the boy grew even more. What had happened to him? Why did his clan keep him locked up?

"What happened?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

Kimimaro hesitated for a moment before he spoke. Much like Hana had been, he wasn't all that comfortable discussing this topic. But since Hana had told him of her experience he thought that would be appropriate to tell his as well.

"My clan feared me; they saw me as a monster. Our kekkei genkai was only inherited by certain people in our clan, and I was one of them. Because of that, the head of our clan feared me and kept me locked away. They would only let me out if they wanted me to fight. I was alone too…" he explained.

Hana stayed quiet for a while, thinking over what Kimimaro had said to her. It seemed that Orochimaru was indeed correct; the two of them had gone through very similar experiences when they were younger. Their origins were different but they both had ended up in the same place. But they didn't have to worry about any of that anymore; they had both found a place where they could both be free.

"We don't have to worry about being locked up anymore. Orochimaru won't let that happen to us again." she said.

Kimimaro couldn't help but smile. She was right; what happened to them would never, ever happen again.

"Yeah, you're right. We're free now; no one will ever lock us away ever again." he replied.

Hana smiled back; she had returned to her normal, happy self. The two of them continued to talk for a couple of hours until Hana asked Kimimaro about his kekkei genkai.

"Hey, Kimimaro, you said that you had a kekkei genkai, right?"

"Yes, I do. Why do you ask?"

"Well…I was wondering if you could show it to me sometime. Maybe during training?"

Kimimaro thought about it for a moment and then nodded in approval.

"Sure! When we start training together I'll show you the abilities that I have."

Hana was very excited now. She had been reading about the kekkei genkai of some of the prominent shinobi clans and she was very curious about Kimimaro's kekkei genkai. Honestly she thought that it was very cool that he had inherited one.

They continued to talk until Hana began to grow tired. It was getting late and she really needed to rest; she had a taijutsu training session the next morning and she didn't need to be tired. So after wrapping up their conversation and saying goodnight, Kimimaro left and returned to his own room. The two of them had only known each other for a few hours but they were getting along very well. They were becoming fast friends and it seemed to be doing them both some good. After all that they had gone through they both needed someone to support them and it seemed like they had found that person.

After being alone for the past few years, Hana finally had a chance to make a new friend and she hoped that their friendship would last.


	6. Truth Revealed

~A Flower Amongst Thorns~

Chapter Six: Truth Revealed

As another year passed the group departed from the Land of Water and moved on to the next hideout. However, instead of being located on the mainland, this one was on an island of its own. Hana wasn't exactly thrilled about being on an island, as she was very much looking forward to going back to the mainland. She had grown tired of being around water for so long and being stuck on an island for who knows how long sounded far from appealing. As she had done before, she pouted and complained but went along with it anyway.

The new hideout was a bit different from the last one; this one was actually above ground…for the most part. There was an area that was located underground. Hana was curious about it for a little while but she became disinterested rather quickly. Most of her time was spent studying and training with Kimimaro. Everything was actually pretty normal and it was starting to get kind of boring. The same old routine can become rather tedious after some time. That is until someone new joined their group. It was a young, silver-haired teenager named Kabuto and, according to what Orochimaru had told her, he had been hurt by Danzo too. It took the two of them awhile to warm up to each other, but they eventually started to get along very well.

During this time, Orochimaru was researching ways to correct the damage that had been done to Hana's chakra network. He observed the effects of the damage and hypothesized that whenever she would use a jutsu or simply just concentrate her chakra an excess amount would build up and be released. In return, the excess chakra would burn her hands. Understandably, Orochimaru was concerned that the damage would become worse over time and would become irreparable. So Orochimaru began developing a pair of specially made gloves that would aid Hana in controlling the amount of chakra that she would be able to use. It would take some time to fully perfect it, but he had managed to finish a prototype set. However they still required routine testing. Hana agreed to take part in testing the gloves since they were being created to help her.

However, on this particular day, things didn't go exactly as planned.

Kabuto had been sent to fetch Hana and bring her to the exam room for another round of testing the gloves. Sadly, Kabuto wasn't given very clear instructions and he ended up leading her downstairs…towards the laboratory. Kabuto was not aware of Hana's past experiences with this type of environment, so he wasn't prepared for what was going to happen.

As he opened the door, the strong smell of disinfectant invaded the girl's senses. Hana recognized that overpowering scent and her whole body went cold. When she saw what was beyond that door it felt as if everything, even time itself had stopped completely. Memories came flooding back to her; memories that she had been trying so hard to suppress for so long.

"No…"

Hana began to back away slowly, and this caught Kabuto's attention. He was confused as to why she was acting this way; everything was fine just a moment ago. What on earth was going on?

Kabuto placed a hand on her shoulder, which caused her to flinch.

"Hana, what's wrong?" he asked.

She didn't say anything in response to his question. She didn't know what to say and she was honestly too terrified to speak. She only stood there, trembling violently. Kabuto thought that this was a normal reaction; it was normal for children to be scared of medical exams, right?

"Hana, come on. We have to go inside."

"NO!"

Hana shouted and then she violently shoved Kabuto away from her and Kabuto hit the wall opposite her. Hana backed up against the wall behind her, holding her head in her hands and repeating the word 'no' over and over again; she started to cry. Now Kabuto was very concerned. This was not ordinary fear; this was absolute terror.

He stood to his feet and he walked back to her. But when he touched her shoulder again, she shoved him away. When he hit the ground Hana took off running. She stumbled going up the stairs and into the corridor and she kept running until she made it to her room. Once she was inside she slammed the door shut behind her and she ran straight to her closet, only stopping to grab her plushie snake off the bed. She shut herself inside the closet and she pressed herself against the wall and she continued to cry.

She wasn't coming out for a very long time.

Orochimaru began to grow concerned when Hana didn't arrive at the exam room. After waiting for a little while longer, he went out to search for the child. As he rounded a corner, he ran into Kabuto but Hana was nowhere to be seen.

"Kabuto," he began, "Where is Hana? She was supposed to be with you, correct?"

Kabuto nodded.

"Yes, sir, she was. But…something happened." he replied.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at this.

"Go ahead and tell me what happened. We need to know what happened so we can start looking for her." he said.

Kabuto sighed and he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"Well, I took her down to the lab like I was told. When I told her that she had to go inside, she got scared and she ran off. I've been looking for her for a while now but I can't seem to find her anywhere." he explained.

"I see…"

Ah, so that's what happened. The poor girl had seen the laboratory which was something that he had been dreading for a long time now. Poor Kabuto had not been told of Hana's past experiences of being a human test subject for someone else's experiments before he had found her. Orochimaru didn't blame Kabuto for what happened; it wasn't his fault. He had been given unclear instructions. Now that he knew what happened he could start looking for her; and he had an idea as to where she was hiding.

He continued down the corridor and made his way to the girl's room. He had a very strong hunch that Hana was currently hiding in her closet. She had made it a habit to hide away in her closet whenever she was scared or just wanted to be alone. She had even put a blanket and a couple of pillows in there just in case she fell asleep while she was hiding. If she were hiding anywhere in the hideout, it would most definitely be in there.

He knocked on the door before going inside, calling the girl's name in order to catch her attention. However he received no response. He walked into the room and while there didn't seem to be any sign of the child, he could hear soft crying coming from the closet. As he had thought; the child had hidden herself away in the closet after what had happened earlier.

He walked over to the closet and he knocked on the door.

"Hana? Hana, dear, you need to come out now." he told her.

"G-Go away…" was the muffled reply he received.

This wasn't good; normally Hana would do as she was told and she would rarely argue with him. But now she was outright refusing to leave her hiding place and had told him to go away. She had clearly been shaken up very badly.

Orochimaru pulled back the sliding door to the closet and he looked inside. He saw Hana huddled against the wall with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and clutching her doll tight. He knelt down to her level and he moved into the small space as much as he could. He wasn't going away.

"I'm not going anywhere Hana. I need to know what upset you so badly and I'm going to stay right here until you tell me." he told her.

Orochimaru already had a general idea as to why she had done this but he wanted to hear her side of the story. He would probably have to wait some time before she would be willing to speak though; Hana was stubborn and wouldn't talk if she didn't want to. So he sat there in silence, with the sound of the girl's quiet sobbing being the only sound in the room.

"Why…?"

A quiet voice broke the silence.

"Wh-Why do you have a l-laboratory here? Why do you have a lab a-at all?" Hana asked.

Ah, this was going to be difficult to explain. Orochimaru was performing experiments of his own but he could tell Hana that. There was no telling what she would do if she ever found out. He had already gained the girl's trust and he saw her as a very valuable asset; she was also a very good student and, really, an overall good child. Losing her would be terrible.

In the end he decided to tell her the truth. She would end up learning the truth eventually and he decided to be the one that told her. Her reaction was what he feared, but it was a risk that he was willing to take.

"I think it's time that I told you the truth." he said.

Orochimaru took a deep breath and he sighed. He had to prepare himself mentally as he didn't know how the child would react to hearing this news. But she had every right to know, and he wasn't going to keep it a secret from her anymore.

"I've been conducting experiments of my own." he stated.

Hana's head jerked up and she started at him with eyes that were wide with shock.

"You have…? B-But…why?" she stammered.

"Well, to put it simply dear, I've spent the past few years creating new jutsu and researching immortality." he replied.

At least his reasons for the experimentation were different than Yahiro's; that did come as a relief to Hana. But there was still one question on her mind and it was a very important one.

"Do you…use humans in your experiments?" she questioned.

Orochimaru hesitated for a moment before he answered her question. He actually debated on whether or not he should lie to her or not, but he knew that she would find out later on. Despite it being an incredibly loaded question, he gave her the answer.

"Yes…I have." he answered.

Hana was absolutely shocked and horrified by this revelation. How had she not known about this? Why hadn't she been told about any of this?

She didn't understand.

Orochimaru could see just how upset Hana had become upon hearing the news. He knew that she must have been very confused, scared, and angry. After all that she had been through, she believed that she had escaped from it all. In reality, he had been keeping his activities a secret from her and he had lied to her.

"I understand that you're very upset. The only reason that I kept this from you was to keep you safe. I was afraid of what would happen if you found out." he explained.

There was a short pause before Orochimaru spoke again.

"However…I do understand if you do not wish to stay here any longer. If you wish to leave and get away from all of this, then I will not stand in your way." he continued.

Hana stayed quiet for a few minutes, thinking over what he had just told her. She was mad at him for lying to her for so long and for keeping something like this a secret from her. She should've known; he should have told her.

But…what would she do now? She couldn't leave and go somewhere else; she didn't have anywhere else to go. Also…she didn't want to leave. These people were her family and they were all she had. She didn't want to leave them. She couldn't leave them.

She had to stay.

"Where would I go if I left? I don't know where my parents are, or if they're even alive. Even if they are alive, I don't know if they want me or not." she whispered.

Hana's words were somber and the sadness in her voice was heartbreaking. The poor child seemingly had no family and if she did there was no guarantee that they gave her up willingly. Not even Orochimaru knew this information. There was no information on the child's origins to be found. Any information had been blacked out and hidden away.

"Then…will you stay?" he asked.

Hana looked down for a moment and then she looked back up, nodding.

"I'll stay. This is the only home I have, so why should I leave?" she answered.

Orochimaru smiled; the girl had made a very wise decision. She was much safer here than she would be in some orphanage. There was always a chance that Yahiro would find her again. This place was her home; her safe haven.

"I'm glad that you've decided to stay. You have nothing to be afraid of, Hana. You're safe here." he told her.

Hana did feel a bit better now, however she still had one question on her mind that she felt needed to be asked.

"You won't use me in your experiments, will you?" she asked.

Orochimaru shook his head.

"No little one, I won't."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

Hana was very happy to hear this. She believed that Orochimaru wouldn't use her like Yahiro did, and she really did trust him. Her trust did waver today, but she still believed him.

She was still so innocent and naïve.

It took some time for Hana to muster up enough courage to emerge from her hiding place. Once she had decided to leave, she went looking around for Kabuto so that she could apologize for shoving him.

Hana's behavior changed after that day. Unless she had to train or test out her gloves, she would spend most of her time alone in her room. She would try her best to avoid the stairs that led down to the laboratory. The event had left her very shaken and she never went back there again.

Hana would never be comfortable with Orochimaru's experiments. No matter how much she wanted to fight and no matter how much she wanted to protest, she knew that it wouldn't do any good. All she could do was stand aside and let Orochimaru do as he wanted. There was nothing that she could do.

Now that she knew the truth, she would never see Orochimaru the same way ever again…


	7. Curse

~A Flower Amongst Thorns~

Chapter Seven: Curse

As the years passed, Hana continued to grow strong. The training was difficult and there were instances where she ended up being hurt, but no matter how badly she was hurt, she would keep going. She wanted to become a strong shinobi. Basic ninjutsu training became much easier once the chakra regulating gloves were complete. The device implemented into the gloves helped contain the excess amount of chakra and then would filter it back into her body, giving the chakra a place to go instead of outward. The excess chakra would no longer cause her injury, unless the device was either damaged or broken completely. Now that she was free of the damaging effects of the experiments, her abilities would be able to flourish.

She was now thirteen years old and she was growing and improving very quickly. Orochimaru couldn't believe how much the girl had grown and how quickly she was maturing. In only seven short years she had gone from a shy, timid child to an adventurous and vibrant young lady. There were hardly any traces of that timid child left. Orochimaru was proud of her for persevering through the difficult training that he put her through; she had proved herself worthy of being his student. At the age of twelve, she was officially promoted to the rank of genin and given her Otogakure headband. She wore the headband with pride and she continued to work hard during her training.

After some time and internal debate, Orochimaru decided that it was time for Hana to receive her curse mark. She had indeed proven herself worthy enough to receive something so important; she was his student and a trusted subordinate. Now all he needed to do was find an appropriate time to do so. His best window of opportunity would be during one of their training sessions. He wouldn't tell her beforehand; he thought that, if she knew, then she would react negatively. After all, the survival rate was fairly low; only one out of every ten recipients ever survived. Orochimaru was concerned for Hana's survival and he knew that she would possibly die because of it. However, he believed that she would be able to come out of this alive and well. She had survived much worse than this and she was strong enough to make it through.

So, on the morning of the chosen date, he led Hana to a clearing in the woods where they would be training that day. Hana followed close behind him, carrying the wooden sword that she used during training. Orochimaru had been teaching her how to properly handle and fight with a blade and for her safety, as well as his own, she had been given a wooden shinai to use during practice. Once they had reached the clearing, Orochimaru informed her of what that day's training would entail. They would be having a sparring match; nothing fancy, just simple combat.

Hana made the first move, setting aside her wooden sword and charging headlong towards Orochimaru. She launched herself into the air and she aimed her fist at his face, acting like she was going to punch him. Orochimaru blocked her punch just before she was able to hit him.

Hana swung her body around and attempted to land a kick to the side of his head. But Orochimaru was faster than she was and he grabbed hold of her ankle and promptly flung her back in the direction that she had come from.

Hana ended up landing on her back with a loud thud.

"Oww…"

She sat up, groaning and rubbing the sore spot on her back. She must have hit a rock when she landed.

"Remember what I told you, Hana. Don't rush into a battle without thinking. You need to plan your attacks and be cautious of your opponent. Plan your attacks carefully." Orochimaru instructed.

Oh, right, she had forgotten about that. She had gotten too confident and forgot to exercise caution. She needed to figure out a way to attack him without him guessing her next move. But, how exactly would she go about doing so?

'Maybe I could try out my new genjutsu.' she thought.

Hana slowly got back on her feet and she picked up the wooden sword before she retreated back into the trees. She concealed herself in the high branches and the thick cover of the leaves.

Orochimaru stood back and he waited patiently for Hana to make her next move. He looked to the treeline and to where the girl had absconded to. An amused smirk stretched across his pale features as his curiosity grew.

'I wonder what sort of trick she has up her sleeve this time.' he thought.

Hana poked her head out from behind the large trunk of the tree that she was currently hiding in. She watched Orochimaru closely, waiting for him to make a move. After watching him for a few minutes and seeing that he wasn't going to act until she did, Hana decided that now was the time to cast her genjutsu.

She brought both of her hands up and she began to form the appropriate hand signs, which were horse, boar, serpent, and dragon.

'Genjutsu: Kagome, Kagome!'

The illusion began to form. Orochimaru watched as a thick mist began to engulf the clearing and the area directly surrounding it. Intrigued by this new development, Orochimaru did nothing to break the illusion; not yet, at least. He watched as the mist thickened to the point where none of the tree were visible anymore. Then, out of the mist emerged multiple shadowy figures. As they approached, it was revealed that these figures were clones of Hana. Orochimaru turned around to see the rest of the clones, effectively turning his back on the young woman hiding in the trees. This gave her the perfect chance to attack.

Hana jumped down from her perch and she began to approach Orochimaru, completely unaware that he had already freed himself from the illusion. She walked up behind him, believing that she had an opening to land a successful attack.

"Which one is behind you now?"

Orochimaru turned on his heels to face her, but Hana launched her attack and managed to strike him in the neck with her sword.

"Gotcha!"

However, just as the wooden sword struck his neck, Orochimaru disappeared in a puff of smoke and his body was replaced with a log.

"A substitution?!"

Hana began to search for any sign of the man, but she couldn't find any sign of him. How on earth could he just vanish like that?

"Dammit, where did he go?"

Just then, a sinister laugh echoed throughout the forest.

"I told you to be careful…"

As she turned around to search for the source of the voice she was met with a sharp kick to her gut. The kick sent her flying back a few feet before she hit the ground again.

She sat up, taking a few gasping breaths before coughing and regaining her ability to breathe properly. She then turned to Orochimaru, glaring daggers at him as she wiped the spit from the corners of her mouth.

"That was a very clever trick, Hana. However, you still need to keep a close eye on your opponent. They may or may not have broken your illusion without you knowing when you decide to attack." he stated.

Hana narrowed her eyes at him as he spoke. She knew that she had trapped him in her genjutsu; she had been watching him carefully the entire time. So how did he manage to break her illusion?

"That was a cheap trick," she muttered, "I had you in my sights the whole time."

Orochimaru smirked and a dark chuckle escaped his lips.

"I knew that you were watching, Hana. I broke your genjutsu when you came out of hiding." he replied.

Hana got back on her feet and she brushed the dirt off of her clothes.

"Whatever; it was still a cheap trick. You could've just let me hit you."

"Perhaps I should have. But, with that being said, I believe it's my turn to attack now. Get ready."

Hana moved back another few feet and moved into a defensive stance; she needed to be ready for whatever he threw at her. Following his instructions closely, she watched him carefully. She didn't want to make the same mistake a third time; she had already embarrassed herself enough today.

Orochimaru raised his hands and he formed a single hand sign. Hana had absolutely no clue as to what he might be planning. Most of the jutsu that she had seen him use usually required at least two hand signs to activate. What exactly was he planning?

Suddenly, Orochimaru's neck began to extend towards her rapidly. Hana was very much startled by this and she didn't even think to move out of the way. This was something that she had never seen before and it left her in shock.

'Wh-What the hell's going on?!'

When she finally got the idea to move out of the way, it was already too late. In an instant, Orochimaru caught up to her and he opened his mouth and sank his teeth into her neck. Hana just froze in place; she couldn't process what had just happened.

When Orochimaru released her, a sharp pain shot through her body. It was worse than any pain that she had ever felt in her life. She began to claw at her neck – the source of the intense, radiating pain- and she collapsed to her knees when her legs gave out on her.

She opened her mouth to speak, but all that she could manage was a pained scream. The agony she felt was unbearable; it was worse than anything she had experienced before. She looked up to Orochimaru, but everything she saw was blurry and unfocused. She stood to her feet once more, legs trembling violently. Even though the pain was unbearable, she still had to keep fighting. She couldn't give up because of pain.

Hana gripped the wooden sword in her trembling hand and she began to stagger towards him. Orochimaru looked on in shock as the girl managed to get back on her feet. This had never happened before. She was strong enough to withstand the pain, and Orochimaru was very impressed. However, the pain soon overtook her and her consciousness began to slip away. She began to fall forward, but Orochimaru caught her before she could hit the ground.

"Enough…" he whispered.

He lifted the girl into his arms and he began to carry her back to the hideout. Her condition needed to be monitored closely, seeing as how her chances of survival were very slim. She would have to be watched very closely until her condition finally stabilized.

Hana developed a very high fever in the hours after receiving her curse mark. At its worst, it reached a temperature of 103°F and she began to have trouble breathing around this time as well. When it reached this point, she needed to be hooked up to a ventilator so that she would be able to breathe properly. She remained in a comatose state for many days, which stretched into one week and then two. Her prognosis wasn't good and it seemed like she wouldn't survive.

Near the end of the second week, Hana's fever began to go down bit by bit. As the fever diminished, Hana's breathing also became regular once again and she was taken off the ventilator soon after. Although her condition was improving, she still hadn't woken up yet. Knowing that it would take some time for her body to fully heal, Orochimaru and Kabuto allowed her to sleep as she recovered. Waking up too soon would be very detrimental to her health.

Finally, near the end of the third week, she started waking up. However, she was still in a heavily medicated state due to the amount of pain medication that she was being given to help ease her constant pain. She was still somewhat coherent, but still very drowsy. But she was now able to speak and Orochimaru thought that it would be a good idea to explain to her what had happened.

He made his way down to the medical ward where she was staying, and when he stepped inside, he saw her sitting up in bed. Just as she would normally be doing, she was studying one of her scrolls. He was very impressed by how diligent she was with her studies, despite the condition that she was in. She was such a good student.

"You really should be resting, you know." he said, breaking the silence.

Hana jumped, nearly dropping the scroll. She moved too fast and a sharp pain shot from her shoulder and into her arm.

"I was bored and I wanted to get some reading done." she replied through gritted teeth.

Orochimaru sighed and he shook his head.

"You are a good student, Hana, but you're very stubborn. You really should take better care of yourself; if you're not healthy, then you won't be able to continue your training." he told her.

Hana puffed out her cheeks, pouting in response to his remark.

She already knew that she needed to be in good health in order to resume her training, but she could still study. Besides, it gave her something to do while she was just sitting here.

"Fine…"

She rolled the scroll back up and she set it down on the small table beside her bed. It was obvious that she was more than a little frustrated now. She had been so bored the past few days, and she just wanted to read. Maybe she'd be able to finish the scroll after he left.

"Did you want to talk to me about something?" she asked.

Orochimaru located a chair and he pulled it over to Hana's bedside.

"Do you remember what happened while we were out training?" he questioned.

Hana really had to think about what had happened. Her memory of that day was fuzzy at best and all she could really remember was being bitten and then everything going black.

"I remember you biting my neck and that's about it. What happened while I was out?"

Orochimaru replied, "You fell unconscious and remained that way for nearly three weeks. After which, you came down with a very high fever and began to have trouble breathing. You had to be attached to a ventilator to aid your breathing."

Hana was very shocked by all of this information. She had gotten so sick after just being bitten? What exactly did he do to her?

"I'm sure you must have many questions. If I may, I would like to offer you an explanation." he said.

Hana nodded, giving him permission to go ahead and give his explanation. She wanted to know what happened and she wanted to know now.

"Well," he began, "I had decided a few months back that you would receive my curse mark. It will help you tap into the dormant power that lies within you."

Dormant power? What did he mean? Did she really have more power than she knew about? It was a lot to take in and she couldn't quite wrap her head around it all. If she really had this much power, then what would she be able to do? What would she be capable of?

A smirk began to grow on Orochimaru's lips. It seemed like Hana was very curious about her new powers, and, if he were to be honest, so was he. The mark was a prototype that had only been tested in the lab and not on an actual human. He had no idea as to what her powers would be. But once she was able to resume her training, he would help her unlock those powers.

"You will unlock those powers in due time. For now though, you need to rest in order to regain your strength. We will resume your training once you pain has fully subsided." he told her.

As much as Hana wanted to go and start training again, she knew that she had to wait. Her body wasn't ready to handle the strain just yet. So, she would just have to wait.

Orochimaru stood up and moved the chair back towards the wall.

"I'll let you get back to you reading now. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask." he said.

Orochimaru left the room, leaving Hana alone to continue reading, and he went back to the lab in order to continue his research.

Hana picked up the scroll and continued to read from where she had left off. If she couldn't go out and start training again, then she would just continue studying.


	8. Reuniting With an Old Friend

~A Flower Amongst Thorns~

Chapter Eight: Reuniting with an Old Friend

"Asuka, hurry up! You're falling behind!"

"I wouldn't be falling behind if you guys weren't going so fast!"

The group of three genin were making their way back to Otogakure after completing their most recent mission. They were moving through the trees at a quick pace, with Hana leading the way, Mamoru following close behind her, and Asuka lagging behind them both. Hana kept calling Asuka out for trailing behind and she constantly told her to stay close to the group, which lead to bickering between both her and Asuka. Poor Mamoru was stuck in the middle of it all. He didn't add to the fighting; he just stayed quiet the entire time and let them argue.

"We need to get back home before it gets dark! It's too dangerous for us to be traveling at night!" Hana shouted.

"I know that already!" Asuka retorted.

Speed wasn't exactly Asuka's strong point, but she was trying her best to improve; that's what she focused on the most when she was training by herself. Hana constantly nagging her to move faster wasn't exactly helping matters any.

"You know, I may be inclined to move faster if you weren't naggin' me all the time!"

"The only reason I'm naggin' you is because I'm the one that's gonna get in trouble if we're late! Now hurry up!"

Asuka scoffed and she rolled her eyes. She never really understood why Orochimaru allowed this girl be in charge of their team; she was such a nag! Just what made her so special, anyway?

Ever since the three of them were assigned to this team, Asuka had been trying to out-do Hana in one form or another. She didn't think that it was fair that Hana got most of the attention. Whenever Orochimaru payed attention to Asuka, it was usually to scold her for being too brash and reckless. So, Asuka would often let her jealousy be known to everyone on the team; especially when they were on missions. However, all it really did was aggravate the living hell out of her teammates.

Asuka opened her mouth to say something else, but then Mamoru turned to her, giving her a very serious look.

"Asuka, I really think you should stop arguing with Hana. It'll make the trip go by faster." he stated.

Asuka groaned in irritation and she moved a bit faster to catch up to Mamoru. She kept her mouth shut the rest of the way home, but she kept her eyes on Hana, continuously glaring at her.

Hana could feel a set of eyes on her and she knew almost immediately that Asuka was glaring at her. She sighed in exasperation, but she kept moving forward. She needed to focus on getting back home and not on her pissed off teammate.

'Just ignore her, Hana. You need to focus on getting home.' she kept telling herself.

The three of them made it back to Otogakure right as the sun began to set. They had somehow managed to return before nightfall, but they were cutting a bit close. The sky's pale blue color had begun to fade into a dull orange.

Hana was more than a little relieved to have made it home before dark. Everything had gone rather smoothly, despite the issues that she had encountered within her own team.

Once the three genin had finally reached the hideout, they immediately began to make their way down to Orochimaru's office to inform him of the results of their mission.

"So, I assume that your mission was successful?" he questioned.

Hana gave a quick nod and then she stepped forward.

"Yes, sir, our mission went very well. There were no issues; we didn't encounter any enemies and we weren't followed." she replied.

Hana reached into her bag and she took out two different scrolls. They contained information that had been gathered by spies that had been stationed in both Konoha and Suna, as indicated by the labels on the outside of the scrolls.

Orochimaru took both of the scrolls from Hana and he set one of them aside. He opened the second one and he looked over its contents; he wanted to make sure that they hadn't received the wrong information. A satisfied smirk stretched across his pale features as he read the writing on the scroll.

"Good work; all three of you. Your mission was indeed successful." he told them.

Both Hana and Mamoru smiled, but Asuka just scoffed. She didn't think that the mission had gone as well as Orochimaru had said.

"Things would have gone a lot smoother if Hana hadn't been nagging is the whole time." she said.

Hana's smile faded almost immediately and she turned around to face Asuka. The look on her face clearly expressed her annoyance at the other girl. She was so not in the mood for this right now.

"You really enjoy floggin' that dead horse, don't ya?" she asked, her voice reflecting her irritation.

The two girls stared at each other for a few moments, the tension around them growing more and more intense. Both Orochimaru and Mamoru knew that they had to diffuse the situation before it got any worse.

"Alright, that's enough you two. Mamoru, Asuka; you two are dismissed. I need to speak with Hana in private for a moment." Orochimaru stated.

Both Mamoru and Asuka bowed respectfully to Orochimaru and then they turned and began to walk out of the room.

Hana watched as her teammates left the room, giving Asuka a dirty look as she walked out the door. She was such a little brat; she shouldn't be acting so immaturely. Yes, she had every right to not be happy, but that didn't mean that she had to act like such a child. Most of Asuka's anger was directed at Hana herself, so it would irritate her to no end.

"Stubborn git…" Hana muttered.

Asuka didn't hear the insult that had been directed her way, but Orochimaru heard it loud and clear.

"Asuka getting under your skin again?" he asked, slightly amused.

Hana sighed and she pinched the bridge of her nose. He didn't know the half of it; he really didn't.

"She's a complete pain in the ass. I still don't understand why you put me on the same team as her." she answered.

"It was to help balance out your team. She may be annoying, but Asuka is smart and she is quite proficient in taijutsu." Orochimaru explained.

Smart? Yeah, right.

Asuka may have had some form of academic intelligence, but she was definitely lacking when it came to intelligence in battle. Hana had lost count of how many times Asuka nearly blew their cover when they were trying to hide from enemies.

"You give her too much credit. She's terrible when it comes to stealth; she almost got us caught. Twice!" Hana disclosed.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, curious about the events that almost led to the team nearly being caught. However he would have to come back to this subject later on. Right now there was another subject that needed their attention.

"Back to the previous matter," he began, "While you and your team were off on your mission, a young woman was brought here. I spoke with her and your name came up during our conversation. She recognized your name and she insisted on meeting you."

Hana was a little confused. Who was this person and how did they know her? She hadn't gone out in public recently. In fact, Hana was trying to stay out of the public eye all together. So who was this person?

"Did she give you her name?" Hana asked.

Orochimaru just shook his head.

"No, I'm afraid she didn't. I asked her more than once, but I couldn't get an answer out of her." he replied.

The unknown factor made Hana even more curious. Just who was this mystery girl, and how in the world did she know her. Hana needed to know. She was going to be wracking her brain all night if she didn't find out soon.

"Alright, if she wants to meet me, then I shouldn't keep her waiting. Can you take me to her?" she asked.

Orochimaru rose from his seat and he began to make his way towards the door. He silently motioned for Hana to follow, and she did. He led her down the dim corridors to a room that wasn't very far from Hana's own. Orochimaru knocked on the door and a voice from the other side of the door answered, allowing them to enter.

Orochimaru opened the door and he allowed Hana to enter the room first. When Hana walked into the room and saw the girl sitting on the edge of the bed, she recognized her almost immediately. She was an old friend from Konoha; one of the very few that she had made while she was living there.

"T-Taeko? Taeko, is that you?" she asked her, completely shocked.

The purple-haired girl turned to Hana and her eyes went wide in utter surprise. She hadn't seen Hana in years, but she was still able to recognize the brunette.

The two girls just stared at each other for a minute before Hana ran up to Taeko and threw her arms around the other girl, hugging her tight. She hadn't seen her friend in so long and she was simply overjoyed to see her again.

"I can't believe you're here! How'd you get here? How did you find this place?" Hana asked excitedly.

Taeko released herself from Hana's grasp and she moved over a bit to allow Hana some room to sit beside her. She glanced back and forth between Hana and Orochimaru, seeming somewhat nervous in the presence of the serpent-like man.

Hana took notice of her friend's nervousness and she turned to Orochimaru. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between the two and Orochimaru left the room, closing the door behind him.

His departure seemed to ease Taeko's nervousness and Hana was actually relieved that her attempt had actually worked. She would definitely take pride in her success.

"Ah, I'm really sorry about that. He can be kinda…overwhelming sometimes." Hana said, trying to get the conversation going again.

Taeko just smiled and shook her head.

"Don't worry about it; it's fine. But thank you though." she replied.

The two of them sat there in silence for quite a while, both unsure of what they should say to the other. Even though they hadn't seen each other in years, they couldn't find anything to say to each other.

It was certainly awkward for the both of them.

Finally, after spending a few minute just sitting in silence, Taeko spoke up.

"How did you get here, Hana? I mean…you just vanished out of nowhere one day and we didn't know what had happened to you." she stated.

Hana leaned back, looking up at the ceiling, and she sighed.

"Well," she began, thinking over her answer carefully, "to make a long story short, I ran away and Orochimaru found me. I had to get out of there. Way too dangerous."

So that's what happened.

Taeko's parents had asked around after Hana had disappeared from the village, but they couldn't get an answer out of anyone. They had feared the worst, but they ultimately had to end their search prematurely. Taeko had spent years wondering what had happened to her friend. But now she knew.

"What about you, Taeko? How'd you get here?"

Taeko bit her lip, hesitating for a moment. She wasn't exactly sure of how to go about explaining her story. It wasn't something that she liked to talk about; it was a rough subject for her.

"Taeko… Hey, if you're not comfortable talking about it, then you don't have to. I don't want to force you to talk." Hana said.

Hana realized how uncomfortable Taeko was becoming during her constant questioning. She didn't mean to, she really didn't, and she felt bad about it. After this, Hana kept her mouth shut, not wanting to say anything else so that she wouldn't upset her friend again.

The two girls sat there in silence for a while, just staring at either the floor or the walls. It was at least another ten minutes before Taeko finally broke the silence.

"My teammates…"

Hana's head perked up and she looked over towards her friend.

"Your teammates? Wh-What happened?"

Again, there was a pause before Taeko spoke again.

"M-My teammates were killed while we were out on a mission; we were ambushed. The guilt ate me alive, even though no one blamed me. I felt so ashamed that I wasn't able to do anything to save my team that I ended up leaving the village. Something…happened to me while I was wandering around and I ended up passing out. Then I ended up here…" she said.

There was yet another moment of silence between the two girls. Hana was absolutely stunned by what Taeko had just told her. Her team had been slaughtered by an enemy shinobi and Taeko was the only one to survive the attack. The guilt had been too much for her friend to bear and she left the village, somehow ending up here.

It took Hana a while to completely wrap her mind around all of this information. Taeko had gone through so much pain and guilt, emotions that Hana herself had experienced before; but not in the same way. She wasn't exactly sure what she should do now. She wanted to comfort her friend, but she didn't know how. This was something that she didn't have much experience with.

But she needed to say something. This silence wasn't helping matters any.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that. It must have taken a heavy toll on you. No one should have to go through something like that, even if you are a shinobi." she said softly.

Taeko kept her eyes locked on the ground, not bothering to move them.

Hana scooted closer to her friend and she wrapped her arms around Taeko, hugging her tight. It was all that she knew she could do.

"But I'm here for you, ok? You're my friend, and I want to help you. If you need me for anything, don't be afraid to talk to me. You're safe here as long as I'm around." she stated.

Taeko's eyes began to well up with tears as Hana spoke. She was willing to help her through this, as difficult as it would be to do so. Hana was a good friend, and Taeko knew that she could trust her.

She wrapped her arms around Hana, hugging her back.

"Thank you, Hana… Thank you…"


	9. Troubling News

~A Flower Amongst Thorns~

Chapter Nine: Troubling News

All was silent in the forest, save for the gentle sounds of flowing water. The forest was calm and peaceful; a perfect environment for quiet meditation. Hana decided to take advantage of this perfect opportunity and she made her way into the forest early that morning.

She located a large, flat rock in the middle of the river; it was high enough for a person to sit on without getting wet. She took off her sandals- leaving them on the riverbank- and she waded over to the large rock. Once she had managed to climb up onto the rock, she sat down and crossed her legs. When she had gotten settled, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Hana focused on the sound of the flowing water, clearing her mind as she meditated in peace. She was relaxed and in another state of mind as she sat alone in the quiet forest. This was really the only moment of peace that she had during the day. Dealing with Asuka, her unruly teammate, was quite stressful. She needed some time during the day to decompress, and this seemed to be working very well for her. She became much more mellow after she started meditating daily.

However, her peace and quiet wasn't meant to last long.

She hadn't been there for very long when she heard someone calling for her. Annoyed, she tried her best to ignore the person by maintaining her focus on the water. But, the person's incessant yelling succeeded in distracting her from her meditation. She sighed and opened her eyes, seeing Mamoru approaching her.

"What's goin' on, Mamoru? I'm kinda in the middle of something here." she said, clearly irritated at being disturbed.

"Sorry for disturbing you, your highness, but Orochimaru-sama wants to see all three of us." Mamoru replied.

Hana shot her teammate a dirty look in response to his sarcastic remark. But she had to wonder why Orochimaru wanted to see them so early in the morning. Just what was so important?

"Alright, I'm coming. Just go on ahead; I'll meet you there." she told him.

Mamoru shrugged and he turned around and walked back towards the hideout. Hana jumped down from her perch on the rock and she waded back to the riverbank, making sure she didn't step in any river mud. After shaking the water off of her feet, she put her sandals back on and started making her way back to the hideout as well.

When she had made it back to the hideout, she found both of her teammates waiting for her in the corridor leading to Orochimaru's office.

"What took you so long?" Asuka demanded.

Hana, who was clearly not in the mood to deal with Asuka at the moment, just shot her an annoyed glare as she walked by. She kept walking down the corridor to Orochimaru's office and Asuka and Mamoru followed her. Once they had reached the room, Hana knocked on the door and waited to be allowed in.

"Come in." a voice called out.

Hana opened the door and the three of them filed into the room one at a time. They lined up in a row across from Orochimaru and they all bowed to him.

"You wanted to see us, Orochimaru-sama?" Hana asked politely.

"Ah, yes, I did." he replied.

Orochimaru set aside the scroll that he had been mulling over and he turned his attention to the three genin standing before him. He waited for a moment before speaking again, watching their faces to see how they were reacting to the silence.

He smirked and then resumed speaking.

"The three of you have been training diligently since your team was formed and you've been quite successful with your missions. Now, I believe that it is time for all of you to move up in the ranks." he stated.

Asuka's eyes widened and a huge smile stretched across her face.

"We're being promoted to chunin?!" she asked excitedly.

The other two genin smiled at the prospect of being promoted to chunin and finally stepping up in rank.

"Now, now, don't get ahead of me. Yes, you will be promoted to chunin. However, you must participate in an exam before that happens." Orochimaru added.

"An exam?" Hana and Asuka asked in unison.

Orochimaru nodded in confirmation.

"Yes, that is correct. The chunin exams will be upon us soon, and I believe that you are all ready to participate this year." he replied.

Wait a minute…these chunin exams…weren't they supposed to take place in Konoha?

When Hana realized this, her smile faded and her eyes widened ever so slowly. She could feel her body growing cold as all of her blood started rushing to her feet. She didn't realize it, but her face had started turning pale as well.

Her teammates didn't notice her sudden change in demeanor, but Orochimaru certainly did. He had a feeling that this would happen when he announced this. Her reaction was…more than expected.

Hana's hands began to tremble violently and her breathing became shallow. After a minute or so had passed, it became too much for her to handle and she had to get out of the room; now!

"I…E-Excuse me, I need a moment." she stammered.

She bowed quickly, turned around and rushed out of the room as fast as she could. Both Asuka and Mamoru were baffled by Hana's strange behavior. It was odd to see her acting in such a manner. Was she overwhelmed by the news?

Neither of the genin knew what was wrong, but Orochimaru did.

Hana ran all the way back to her own room and she slammed the door shut once she was inside. She leaned against the door and she ran a hand through her bangs, her breathing still shallow. Out of habit, she walked over to her closet and shut herself inside.

She slumped against the wall, essentially collapsing in on herself, and then she took off her headband and threw it to the ground. Her body was trembling from the quiet sobs that shook her entire form. She couldn't believe this; why would he make her go back to that place? Why couldn't he just promote them to chunin without making them take the exams?

Dear God, she felt sick. She literally felt like she was going to be physically ill. Just the thought of stepping foot in Konoha again made her want to vomit. But, somehow, she managed to keep down the bile that was beginning to rise in her throat.

She wasn't going to leave the safety of her closet to quite a while. Her mind was swirling violently with horrid thoughts of what might happen to her if she went back. No matter what she tried, she just couldn't keep those thoughts out of her head and she always went back to the worst case scenario. She was panicking now; she was legitimately panicking.

The bile in her throat couldn't be forced back down any longer and Hana rushed out of the closet and scrambled into the bathroom. She hit the ground and she violently retched into the toilet. She felt awful; her head was pounding and her stomach was still constantly churning. She just wanted all of this to end.

She staggered to her feet, supporting herself on the wall so that she wouldn't completely fall over. She was so dizzy…

After flushing the contents of her stomach away she stumbled out of the bathroom and back into the main room. She was exhausted now and any energy that she may have had was now completely gone. All she wanted to do now was sleep the rest of the day away.

She trudged over to her bed and she kicked off her sandals before collapsing onto the bed. She pulled the blankets over her head before curling up into a ball. She shut her eyes tight before falling into a fitful sleep.

A few hours passed before Orochimaru went looking for Hana. She never returned after she had left his office earlier that day; he honestly thought that she would come back after only a few minutes. Something must have rattled her pretty badly.

He decided to check her room first. Knowing Hana, she was probably holed up in her closet again. It was a habit that she had developed as a child; hiding in her closet whenever she was frightened or upset. So, Orochimaru thought that it would be the best place to start looking.

He knocked on the door to the girl's room and waited a few minutes for her to respond. When he received no response, he knocked again. Again, no response. After repeating these actions twice more and receiving no answer from Hana, he just opened the door and walked inside.

He glanced around the room for a bit and his eyes were drawn to the barely moving lump underneath the blankets on the bed. Orochimaru just sighed and shook his head. He had been expecting her to be hiding in her closet, not hiding under the covers like a small child. However, another thought crossed his mind. Perhaps she had grown tired and had decided to rest for a while. But, really, who knew.

Orochimaru approached the bed and he sat down beside Hana. He placed a hand on her shoulder and he shook her gently to try and wake her up.

There was a groan and a slight shifting of the blankets, but, other than that, there was no response from the girl. Orochimaru sighed again; this was going to be more difficult than he had previously assumed. This girl slept like a rock.

He pulled the blankets away from her, which didn't seem to provoke any sort of reaction. Orochimaru stood back for a moment and thought about what he should do next. After a minute, he reached for her arm and pinched it hard.

"Owww…!"

That seemed to work. Hana sat up, rubbing her sore arm, and staring at Orochimaru blearily for a minute or so. She had been in a pretty deep sleep and had been rather rudely awakened.

"Orochimaru…what's up? Is somethin' wrong?" she asked, still half asleep.

"You never returned to my office after you left so suddenly. I wanted to make sure that you were feeling alright." Orochimaru replied.

"Oh," Hana stated as she stretched out her arms, "Well, I'm alright. I just needed some time to myself is all."

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at her answer. He knew that she was lying about what had happened and he wasn't amused with how she was trying to cover it up. He was really worried about it though. It wouldn't be long before she told him the truth.

"Hana, I don't understand why you feel the need to lie to me." he stated, very unamused.

Hana's eyes shot open and she felt her heart drop into her stomach. She was just absolutely shocked at just how quickly he had outed her lie. Then again, she really shouldn't have been so surprised. Orochimaru was extremely perceptive and could detect deception rather well.

He hadn't asked her any other questions, but Hana felt like she was in the middle of an interrogation. Her hands started to shake again and her heart began to race. She knew that she couldn't keep up the lie and that she would be in some serious trouble if she even tried.

Defeated and backed into a proverbial corner, she sighed and started telling him the truth.

"Alright, alright…I'm not fine. I am far from being fine." she admitted, running a hand through her bangs.

Orochimaru, relieved that he wouldn't have to keep questioning her, sat down beside her once more. They were both silent for a while and Orochimaru took a moment to observe Hana's behavior. The girl was stressed, that much was obvious. She must have realized that the exams that he had spoken of earlier would be held in Konoha and that caused her to stress out.

He wanted to be sure, however, so he decided to ask her if that was indeed the case. But before he could ask her anything, Hana spoke up and asked a question of her own.

"Why…Why in the ever-loving fuck do you want to send us to Konoha?" she asked. Her voice was strained and it sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

Orochimaru simply replied, "I told you earlier, Hana. I'm sending you and your team to take part in the chunin exams."

Hana groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I know that already! But why? Why can't you just promote us to chunin without having us take the exams?" Hana asked, quite irritated by his simple answer.

"The exams are an important step in the process of promoting genin to chunin. The fact that Konoha hosts the exams is completely out of my control." Orochimaru responded.

Hana crossed her arms over her chest and she turned around, pouting like an upset child.

"Well forget it! I'm not going. I'd rather die than set foot in that village again." she declared.

Orochimaru was starting to grow angrier with each passing second. Hana was acting like a child when she really should have been acting her age. He had raised her better than that. However, he understood why she was so reluctant to go back to Konoha. That place harbored terrible memories that she wanted to forget.

That being said though, she didn't exactly have much of a choice in the matter. In order to even register for the exams, all three members of a genin team were required to be present. If she didn't go, then Asuka and Mamoru wouldn't be able to participate.

"You don't have a choice," Orochimaru began, "All three of you need to be present in order to participate. You'll be letting your teammates down if you don't go."

Dammit! There was a loophole…

It looked like Hana wasn't going to get out of this. She couldn't stay behind; she would be letting the rest of her team down if she did. She had to go with them. There were no other options.

"Orochimaru…"

Her voice was subdued, quiet and broken. She was crying, but Orochimaru couldn't see this since her back was turned to him.

"I had a panic attack earlier." she croaked.

Orochimaru turned to Hana and he saw her shoulders tremble with each quiet sob. He placed a consoling hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

"How bad was it?" he questioned.

Hana sniffled and she rubbed at her eyes.

"P-Pretty bad…I threw up." she muttered.

Hana took in a shaky breath and she continued speaking.

"I kept thinking about all the bad things that might happen if I go back. I tried to stop but I couldn't get those thoughts out of my head." she continued.

In truth, she still couldn't shake those thoughts. Even now she was picturing being captured by Yahiro again and the experiments resuming from where they had left off.

She let her head fall forward, allowing her long hair to fall and hide her face. She felt awful, not just physically but emotionally as well. She couldn't stand being so weak; she hated it. What would Orochimaru think? How would react to such a display of weakness?

Apparently, much differently than one would expect of him.

"Nothing bad will happen to you while you're there. I've made sure of it." he told her.

Hana turned her head a bit so that she could see his face. The look on her own face expressed her confusion.

"Y-You have?"

Orochimaru nodded in response.

"Yes, I have. One of my spies reported back to me recently. Yahiro is nowhere to be found in the village and Danzo is currently preoccupied with other matters."

Well, that was a relief. If Yahiro wasn't there, then that would certainly be one less thing to worry about. At least she wouldn't have to worry about that creep bothering her during the exams, and the further out of Danzo's sight the better.

With that in mind, maybe taking the exams wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. Orochimaru had gone through so much trouble to make sure that she would be safe. If she refused to go, then all of that effort would have been for nothing; wasted. She didn't want that, not at all.

She had to face her fears. Whether she wanted to or not, she had to face this head on. She took a deep breath, steeling herself and beginning to prepare herself mentally. She was definitely going to need it.

"Alright…when do we leave?" she asked.

A smile stretched across Orochimaru's face when he heard this. While she hadn't stated it outright, she had agreed to go with her teammates and participate in the chunin exams. He was very proud of her for making this decision, as difficult as it may have been. She didn't want to go, but she made the decision to go for her team's sake.

"I'm very proud of you, Hana."

A tiny smile formed upon Hana's lips.

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I know that Konoha is the last place that you want to be, and I understand that you're scared. But, I'm glad that you made the decision to go, despite your fears. I'm proud of you."

That gave Hana the confidence boost that she so desperately needed. For years Hana had been working as hard as she could, just to make him proud. After all, he had done so much for her already and she didn't want to disappoint him. Now her drive was even stronger than before.

Orochimaru gave Hana a pat on the shoulder before standing up.

"Get some rest; you've had a rough day." he instructed.

Hana gave a quick nod in response.

"Yes, sir, I will." she replied.

Orochimaru took a few steps towards the door before stopping. He only turned his head slightly while the rest of his body remained still.

"You and your team will depart in three days. During that time, I suggest that you prepare for your journey and train with the rest of your team so that you are all prepared for the exams." he ordered.

Hana smiled and she gave him a quick salute.

"You got it!" she said cheerfully.

Orochimaru continued walking towards the door, but he stopped for a moment before opening the door.

"Come to my office tomorrow morning. I have something important that I need to discuss with you." he stated.

Without saying another word, and not waiting for Hana to respond, Orochimaru left the room and shut the door behind him. Hana was a bit confused by this, but she didn't think much of it. Orochimaru could be cryptic at times; that's just how he was.

Hana yawned before sliding off the bed and changing back into her pajamas. She crawled back into bed and pulled the blankets over her body, shutting her eyes once her head hit the pillow. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep. Hopefully it would be a restful sleep.


	10. Arrival

~A Flower Amongst Thorns~

Chapter Ten: Arrival

"Asuka, please try to keep up with the rest of the group!"

"Yes sensei…"

The group of three genin and their sensei were currently en route to Konoha so they could apply for the chunin exams. While two of the genin were excited about the exams and the prospect of being promoted to chunin, their teammate wasn't. The event itself didn't bother her, it was the location that she had a problem with. Konoha was a place that she didn't want to be. Too many bad experiences and bad memories that she just wanted to forget. That, and her sense of impending doom was on high alert. She absolutely didn't want to go.

The reason why she was going at all was because of her teammates. They needed her in order to even apply for the exams; they needed a full team of three. However, unbeknownst to her teammates, there was another reason. One that was much more important.

Orochimaru had given her a very important mission that would begin during the exams. He had planned on attacking the village while the exams were taking place and he wanted Hana to inflict serious structural damage within the village itself. He was basically giving her an opportunity to take revenge on the people who had wronged her all those years ago. It was quite a shock, and Hana was still trying to wrap her head around it all.

Even now, as they were travelling, she was still replaying the conversation in her head.

" _You're gonna attack Konoha during the exams?"_

 _The look on Hana's face clearly expressed her shock and confusion regarding the subject at hand. It came as quite a surprise to her. It wasn't a bad kind of surprise, but it was quite shocking nonetheless._

 _Orochimaru couldn't help but smirk and chuckle to himself upon seeing the confused expression on Hana's face. He did just throw all of this information at her rather suddenly, so she had every right to be confused. But he still found it rather amusing._

" _Yes, I am. I've been planning this for quite some time now, and I believe the time to act upon it has come at last."_

" _Alright…but, what does this have to do with me?"_

 _Orochimaru's smirk grew wider. He had a very special task for Hana to undertake._

" _I want you to aid me in Konoha's destruction, my dear."_

 _Wait a minute…seriously?_

 _Now she was really confused. What reason did he have for requesting aid from her? She wasn't exactly the most ideal person to recruit for an operation like this one, crazy chakra and all. So, why her?_

" _Why me exactly? Wouldn't Mamoru be a better choice for this mission? He has better control over his chakra than I have over my own."_

" _It's quite simple, really," Orochimaru began, "While Mamoru may have superior chakra control, I can't trust him enough to complete a mission like this one on his own. You, on the other hand, can complete a mission like this and you have my trust."_

 _So it was all a matter of trust._

 _Well…she had been here much longer than either of her teammates had. She had also worked extremely hard in order to gain Orochimaru's trust. Maybe he had a point. Maybe she was best suited for this mission._

" _Alright, so what do you need me to do?"_

 _Orochimaru stood up from his chair and he motioned for Hana to follow him. He walked over to a table that was off to the side and Hana followed close behind him. He handed her a small stack of sealed paper bombs._

" _The night before the attack, I want you to place these paper bombs on different structures in the village. Preferably important structures, such as the headquarters for the Cipher Corp., the armory, and the Academy. When the attack begins, you are to detonate them. I will give you further instruction between now and then." he explained._

 _Hana repeated the instructions in her head a few times before she nodded in confirmation._

" _Got it. You can count on me."_

"Hana? Hey, Hana!"

Hana was drawn out of her mulling by Mamoru calling out her name. She looked up and she saw the rather concerned look on his face.

"Are you alright? You kinda spaced out there for a minute."

Hana nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've just got a lot on my mind right now."

Mamoru was a bit concerned about his teammate. She had been acting strange ever since they left Otogakure, and she was spacing out more often than usual. It wasn't like her to zone out this much. He really had to wonder what was going on in her head right now. It must have been something very important. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but he decided against it. It wasn't his business, and he didn't want to pry.

Their journey to Konoha was supposed to last three days at least while travelling on foot. They would be able to arrive in a fraction of the time if they travelled through the night as well, but Setsuna made them set up camp once the sun had gone down. She wasn't going to let them travel at night. There was some protest, but only from Asuka who was all too eager to get to Konoha. Her protests were quickly silenced.

The arrived roughly three days after they had departed from Otogakure. As they entered into the village through the large gates, Hana stopped and stared up at the massive structure. They seemed so much bigger when she was a child.

"Hana?"

Her thoughts were interrupted, once again, by someone calling her name. This time it was Setsuna.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Hana just nodded silently.

Setsuna walked alongside Hana as they entered the village. Hana was gripping the straps of her backpack so tight that her knuckles were turning white. God, she was so tense; her body was so rigid, almost like a wooden post. Maybe it was paranoia setting in, but she felt like people were staring at her. Watching her.

They found their way to the application desk and all three genin were registered for the exams. The date for the first of exam was the first day of July – in three days' time- and would begin at three o' clock in the afternoon. It was odd that they would start so late in the afternoon, but it had been decided by the Hokage.

So, once they had placed their applications, they left the registration desk and went looking for a place to stay while they were in the village. Luckily, there was an inn not too far away from the Academy. They were able to rent two rooms- one for Asuka and Mamoru, and one for Hana and Setsuna- that were connect. They needed to hold a team meeting, and the connected rooms made this much easier.

"So what're we supposed to do during the first exam?" Asuka asked.

Mamoru shrugged.

"Not sure. It's in a classroom, though, so maybe it's a written exam." he answered.

Hana, who had been stretched out on her bed, spoke up next, shedding some light on the subject.

"It's a written exam, but they're testing our information gathering skills." she stated plainly.

Asuka raised an eyebrow, a bit confused.

"How're we supposed to gather information during a test?" she questioned.

Hana pinched the bridge of her nose and gave an irritated sigh. She couldn't believe that Asuka was this dim.

"We have to cheat, you idiot. We have to cheat without getting caught." she groaned.

A dark growl escaped Asuka's throat after being called an idiot. She knew that she wasn't the smartest member of the team, but she certainly wasn't an idiot.

"Hey! I don't know what your deal is, but that doesn't give you the right to call me an idiot!" she yelled.

Instead of yelling back at her teammate, Hana turned over onto her side and pulled a pillow over her head.

"Can you not be so loud? I've got a headache…" she muttered.

Asuka opened her mouth to retort, but Mamoru stepped in and stopped her, shaking his head. He placed a hand on her shoulder to help hold her back.

"Asuka, leave her alone. She's not feeling well, and yelling isn't going make it better." he stated.

Asuka rolled her eyes and then walked back to the other room through the connecting door. Mamoru apologized to Setsuna before following Asuka.

Setsuna was thankful for Mamoru's calm demeanor. If he hadn't been placed on this team, Hana and Asuka would have torn each other apart on the first day of training. Having a level-headed kid on the team made Setsuna's job so much easier.

Setsuna also felt bad for Hana, knowing that the girl didn't want to be in this village in the first place. After all that had happened to her, she had every right to be nervous. The only reason she was doing this was to make Orochimaru proud. Setsuna knew that she couldn't do much, but, for now, she could let the girl rest.

She drew the curtains closed, blocking out the sunlight, and then she turned off the lights in the room. The room was left in darkness, and this would probably help with the girl's headache.

She would need plenty of rest; all three of them would. These exams would be brutal and would both physically and mentally taxing. However, Setsuna had faith in her students. She knew that they would make it through the exams. But she couldn't help but worry. She had a feeling that something would go wrong, and that one of her students would end up gravely injured.

She shook it off as her nerves getting to her. Nothing bad would happen to her students. They were all prepared for this, and they would make it out just fine.


	11. The First Exam Begins

~A Flower Amongst Thorns~

Chapter Eleven: The First Exam Begins

The first exam was set to begin at three o' clock in the afternoon on the first day of July.

The three Otogakure genin began making their way to the Academy at about two-thirty that afternoon, wanting to arrive early. Hana showed her teammates the quickest route to the Academy; she knew the streets very well, since she had lived on them for a while when she lived here.

The building itself wasn't difficult to find, and it only took them about ten minutes to get there from the inn. They made their way up the stairs and to room 301, where the exam would be held. All three of them stood at the door for a moment, just staring at them. They were all tense. Nervous.

Hana turned to both of her teammates and they nodded in silent agreement. She grabbed the handles of both doors, took a deep breath, and then opened the doors.

"Wh-whoa…!"

"That's a lot of people."

The room was packed full of genin from different lands; Konoha, Suna, Ame, Taki, Kusa…almost every ninja village out there, save for one or two. They were very intimidating, and many of them were staring at them intensely. That didn't help relieve any tension.

The three genin stood at the door and stared back at the crowd. They all exuded a kind of strength that none of the three possessed. Out of all of them, Hana felt it the most. She was quickly becoming overwhelmed by the intense chakra. Her heart began to race and her palms started sweating.

' _Orochimaru didn't say anything about this.'_ she thought.

She started looking around the room for a place to sit; somewhere off to the side where they could blend in. She found a place by the nearest window where very few people sat. For the next twenty minutes or so, they all sat quietly as they waited for the exam to begin. Hana noticed a group of genin gathering by the door. She didn't pay much attention to them at first. That is, until, suddenly, one of them shouted:

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna beat all of you!"

While everyone else glared daggers at the loud-mouthed kid, Hana bust out laughing and she jabbed Asuka in the arm with her elbow.

"Gahahaha! Hey, Asuka, this kid's just like you! He's got a big mouth and a big head just like you do!" she laughed.

Asuka puffed out her cheeks and turned away as Hana continued to cackle like a madwoman. Mamoru, who had noticed something off, sidled up to Hana and whispered in her ear.

"Hey, Hana? Why's Kabuto here?" he whispered.

"Eh?"

Hana took another look at the group that had gathered near the door, and, lo and behold, saw a very familiar silver-haired teenager standing among them.

What was Kabuto doing here? Was he taking the exams too? Or did Orochimaru send him on a mission of some kind?

She felt the need to investigate further.

Without responding to Mamoru's question, Hana began walking towards the other genin. But before she could get any closer, one of the other candidates leapt out of the crowd and attacked. Kabuto managed to dodge his attack and the attack of a second candidate that lunged at him.

After the attacks, Hana took a few more steps towards them. But then, Kabuto fell to his knees and then vomited. Everyone around him was shocked, even Hana. He had dodged that attack. So, what happened?

Hana had an idea.

' _That was a sound based attack!'_

Hana broke out into a run and she forced herself in between Kabuto and the group of Otonin.

"What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get us all kicked out? This guy isn't even from our village!" she shouted.

The boy with spiky black hair and the symbol for death written three times on his shirt scoffed at Hana.

"This punk here was mocking our village, saying that we're small. He said that we were insignificant." he stated.

Hana smacked herself in the forehead and groaned. This guy wasn't very bright, was he?

"Our village is small, you bloody idiot. Didn't you realize that there are only two teams from Otogakure taking this exam?" she replied, clearly annoyed with this kid's stupidity.

Another boy who was wearing a straw raincoat on his back and had most of his face wrapped in bandages stepped forward and spoke next.

"Why are you concerning yourself with him? Like you said, he isn't from our village." he stated.

Hana crossed her arms over her chest and she huffed.

"I don't want my team getting disqualified because of your shenanigans. Now knock it off!" she shouted.

Suddenly, a large puff of smoke enveloped the room and a loud, booming voice commanded everyone's attention.

"Alright you baby-faced degenerates! Pipe down and listen up!"

As the smoke cleared, a large man in a black coat and a few other shinobi wearing grey uniforms, stood in full view of the candidates. The man turned to the four Otonin at the back of the room and unleashed his anger.

"You four from Otogakure! You were given no permission to fight!" he shouted.

The boy with the spiky hair gave a rather cocky response.

"Sorry about that. We were just a bit jumpy." he said.

"Well, in that case, let me make something clear to the lot of you. There is to be no fighting during this exam, unless you are given express permission by the proctor. Even if you are allowed to fight, you are not to use deadly force. Are we clear?" he stated.

"Crystal…" Hana muttered.

She sighed and slumped forward.

' _Why am I getting yelled at? I was trying to stop these guys…'_

She had gotten involved in something that she shouldn't have and ended up being implicated in what happened. So much for trying to help.

"Alright, all of you line up. Each of you will receive a number that corresponds with where you will be seated during the exam. Once you have your number, find your seat so we can get started with the written exam." the proctor ordered.

"A-A written test?! No way!" the blond boy shouted. Apparently, he had been unaware of what this exam would entail.

Hana turned around and gave him a quizzical look.

"What's wrong with a written exam?" she asked.

"He's a moron. You should have seen him when we were in the Academy." a pink-haired girl answered. She must have been one of his teammates.

This kid was more like Asuka than Hana had originally thought; maybe even worse. She honestly felt sorry for his teammates and the sensei in charge of them. They must have a difficult time with him.

Hana and her teammates lined up to receive their seating numbers. Their seats were in completely different areas of the room, which they had assumed would make it more difficult to cheat. Hana found herself seated next to the pink-haired girl from earlier. They exchanged pleasantries for a moment before the proctor began speaking again.

"Now before we start the exam, there are a few rules that need to be addressed. Listen carefully, because I won't be answering any questions." he stated.

No questions, huh? That was bad news for anyone who might be confused by the rules for the exam. This was going to be rough on them.

"In contrast to what you might be used to, you will all start this exam with a full score of ten points."

' _Ok, that's weird. But it doesn't sound too out there.'_

"For every question you get wrong, two points will be deducted from your total score. You will also lose two points for every time your caught cheating by the sentinels."

One of the sentinels spoke up next.

"I'll be watching you like a hawk, so don't you even think about cheating." he said.

Ok, Hana was a little nervous now. Hopefully Asuka was smart enough to not get caught. Or maybe it would be better if she didn't try to cheat at all. Besides, even if she got all of her questions wrong, they would still be able to pass, right?

"One more thing…"

Hana had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something wasn't right here.

"If one member of your team loses all ten of their points, the entire squad fails!"

Wait…WHAT?! Was this guy serious? If one person failed, then the entire team would fail? That was insane!

Many of the other candidates began to protest, including the girl sitting beside Hana, but the proctor shot them all down quickly.

Hana could feel the blood drain from her face and all the way down to her feet. Good lord, she must have been as pale as a ghost. She was absolutely terrified of the idea of Asuka causing them all to fail. Hana could only pray that she would get at least one or two questions right.

"You have one hour to complete this exam. Fifteen minutes before the hour is up, you will be given the tenth question. Understood?"

There was absolute silence throughout the room, but there seemed to be a mutual understanding amongst everyone in the room.

The proctor, Ibiki, smirked devilishly.

"Now…BEGIN!"


	12. What's the Tenth Question?

~A Flower Amongst Thorns~

Chapter Twelve: What's the Tenth Question?

"Now…BEGIN!"

As soon as the signal was given, every genin in the room began writing. Hana flipped over her own test paper and started looking over the questions. The questions looked incredibly difficult, even for her. She was intelligent, but this would definitely provide a decent challenge for her.

She got to work on the first question, which was deciphering a code. They were instructed to decipher the code and interpret its meaning. Hana couldn't help but smirk as her ego swelled. She could decipher coded like this in a short amount of time; she was very good at it.

The next few questions were decently challenging, but not outright impossible. These were things that she had been taught years ago. However, the last question completely threw her for a loop. With this one, they had to calculate the trajectory and arc of a shuriken being thrown from the top of a tree that was ten meters tall. She swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat; she didn't have a problem with complicated math equations, but this was way too difficult for genin.

' _How do they expect us to answer this? Even if someone cheats really well, they probably won't get the right answer. This is just stupid.'_ she thought.

Well, she couldn't leave the question blank; that would lower her score and put her team at risk of failing. So, she went about attempting to solve this problem using the information that they had been given and the information she already knew. She remained hyper-focused on her work, using the scratch paper that had been provided. Once she had finally finished, she had used up two pieces of scratch paper and most of the provided space on the test itself.

' _Finally done…'_

Hana slumped forward onto the desk, mentally exhausted. Thankfully, that had been the last question on the test, and she had about…twenty minutes to rest before the tenth question was given.

But then she heard someone yelping in surprise, and Hana sat bolt upright, startled. Someone had been caught cheating more than five times and was disqualified along with the rest of his team. He protested and began to cause a scene, and he was promptly dragged out of the room by two of the sentinels. His teammates followed after.

More and more genin were sent away because they had failed. They continued to filter out until a third of the candidates remained. Hana waited nervously for her team's numbers to be called, but, thankfully, they weren't.

After that, Hana watched the clock as she waited for the proctor to give the tenth question. She was curious about what the tenth question might be; although, that was probably the main thought on everyone's mind at that moment. It must be important; after all, they were saving it until the very end. Whether they passed or failed must be riding on how they answered it.

Hana began to doze off, mostly out of boredom, but the proctor's booming voice snapped her out of it.

It was time.

"Now, it's time for the tenth question." he stated.

' _Finally…'_

"But first, I will explain the rules that are specific to the tenth question."

Hana slumped forward and smacked her head on the desk.

' _Fuck…'_

More rules? What the hell was so important about this question that it required special rules?

"Before we continue, I'd like to remind you all that whether you pass or fail this exam rides on how you answer this question."

' _That completely contradicts what you said earlier. What kind of stunt are you trying to pull here?'_

"You all have an opportunity to forfeit the question. You and your team will fail, but you can come back and try again next time. However…"

That pause…it was just as ominous and intimidating as the man standing before them. It sent a chill up Hana's spine.

"If you choose to stay and take the tenth question and get it wrong…you will be barred from taking the chunin exams ever again and will remain a genin for the rest of your days!" he exclaimed.

The room erupted in a clamor of outrage and confusion. It seemed like many of the genin were not too happy about the possibility of remaining genin for the rest of their lives. Hana wasn't thrilled about it either, but she was going to stick it out with her team.

The first one to forfeit stood up, saying that they couldn't take the stress. Then he left with his team, apologizing to them. Then another team, and then another, and another. Multiple teams failed and were then sent away. Hana felt kind of bad for them. They must have been looking forward to becoming chunin, only to fail and be sent away. It must have been a tough decision for them to make.

Hana looked up and she saw the blond boy from earlier raising his hand. Poor kid; his confidence must have taken a huge hit. All of that bravado from earlier seemed to be gone now. It was almost non-existent. Maybe he wasn't ready. At least he could try again next time.

But then, the boy slammed his hand down on the desk and he looked the proctor dead in the eye.

"Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run!"

Hana was, unsurprisingly, shocked by this odd turn of events. This kid wasn't giving up, and he wanted everyone to know it. The proctor pushed him further to make sure that he wasn't bluffing and actually meant what he said.

He did. He meant every word.

The kid's resolve seemed to affect everyone in the room. No one else stood up and all of the tension from before had dissipated entirely.

Ibiki looked to the sentinels, who nodded in agreement.

The exam was over.

"Well then, on that note, I would like to announce…that you've all passed the first exam!" he stated.

The teams of genin all sat in stunned silence until the girl sitting beside Hana asked the question that was on everyone's minds.

"Wait, what do you mean we passed?" she questioned.

Ibiki went on to explain that the written test was merely a front for what they were really testing them on; gathering information without getting caught. Those who were caught ended up failing and dragging their team down with them. On an actual mission, a decision like that could prove to be fatal.

To emphasize his point, Ibiki removed his bandana and revealed the mass of scars that riddled his scalp.

Hana went visibly pale and was forced to look away. She didn't like looking at a person's scars.

Hell, she got queasy just looking at her own.

But she did understand what was going on though. The tenth question was basically a ruse to weed out those who weren't qualified to become chunin.

Heh, real clever.

Suddenly, a loud crash rang out throughout the room, startling many. Hana yelped and nearly fell back in her seat. A large black mass entered the room through the now broken window.

The mass turned out to be a woman who had wrapped herself up in a black tarp before launching herself through the window.

'This village is full of crazies!' Hana thought.

"Alright maggots, listen up!"

The woman was loud and brash, a person with a take-no-shit attitude. Her outfit choice was pretty bold too; a chain-mesh bodysuit with a short skirt, beige trench coat, and standard issue sandals with shin guards. No one in Oto wore clothes like that. No one that Hana knew, anyway.

"My name's Mitarashi Anko, and I'm the proctor for the second exam! Let's not waste any more time here; follow me!" she declared.

All of the genin just stared at her in stunned silence, which seemed to embarrass the woman. Ibiki peered out from behind the tarp and spoke to her.

"You're a little early." he said.

The woman made an attempt at regaining some form of composure and then turned her attention back to the genin. She wasn't too pleased at the number of people who had passed the exam, and it showed on her face; she was scowling.

"You let this many of them pass? Looks like you were too soft on them, Ibiki." she stated.

"We had a rather exceptional batch of candidates this time. They all had the necessary skills to pass." he replied.

The woman scoffed.

"Hmph. Whatever. The next exam won't be so forgiving. We'll really thin the heard then." she said, a dark smile stretching across her face.

That was…very unsettling. Hana felt a shiver crawl up her spine upon seeing the woman's rather sinister grin.

"Alright, listen up! All of you will meet up at Training Ground #44 at eight a.m. sharp! Then we can get started with the second exam! Are we clear?" she shouted.

On instinct, Hana replied, "Crystal."

The woman smirked again, pleased with the response she had received.

"Alright then; dismissed!"

As the remaining candidates filed out of the room, Hana met up with the rest of her team and they all walked out together. As soon as they had gotten something to eat, they would have another team meeting to discuss the next exam and how they should prepare for it.

They had to be ready. None of them knew what could happen out there.


	13. The Second Exam: Day One

Rose Chronicles: Thorns

Chapter Thirteen: The Second Exam - Day One

The night before the second exam was set to begin, Hana called a team meeting to discuss what needed to be done in preparation. Hana informed them that the next test would be a survival exercise, but didn't know if any other element was involved or how long it would last. She suspected a week at the most, and only two or three days at least. So they would need to gather enough provisions to last them a week. Lucky for them, there was a little store near the inn where they could buy the things they needed. After they had stocked up on supplies, Hana stored them away in a scroll so they could avoid looking too conspicuous.

They all went to bed early that night- at around 9:30 P.M.- and they were up and ready to go at around 7 A.M. the next morning. This gave them about an hour to locate the site of the exam. They were among the first few to arrive; apparently they weren't the only ones who considered arriving early for this. So they waited, sitting against one of the large rocks that dotted the area. Asuka had started to doze off; she wasn't much of an early riser.

When 8 A.M. finally rolled around, and the rest of the candidates had gathered around and caught a glimpse of the area, many of them became unsettled. Hana snickered; this was nothing compared to the forests surrounding Otogakure. This was a contained area. Other than the people traversing it, what could possibly be so bad about it?

When Anko, the proctor, saw how uneasy they all were, she couldn't help smirking. She was going to have a lot of fun with this group.

"Scared? Well, you should be. This place is full of things that could kill you if you're not careful; poisonous plants, giant bugs and blood-thirsty beasts to name a few." she stated.

Her smirk grew wider.

"Soon enough, you'll find out why it's called the 'Forest of Death'."

If she was trying to intimidate them even further, then it was certainly working. Well...on most of them.

The annoying blonde-haired kid from the day before wasn't intimidated by her. In fact, he started to openly mock her.

"Oh, please; I'm not scared of any dumb old forest!" he shouted.

Suddenly, a kunai whizzed by his head and cut his cheek. Hana, who had been standing fairly close by, was startled by the incoming weapon and moved out of the way pretty quickly.

Further proof that this woman was completely off her rocker.

As Hana moved back to her spot, she noticed a genin from Kusagakure standing nearby. They had a very familiar air about them. Their hair and clothing style were very similar to…

Wait...could it be…?

No way. What reason would he have for being here?

But her suspicions grew when they returned the kunai to Anko. With their **tongue**. Orochimaru was the only person that Hana knew who could do something like... **that**.

As the genin passed by Hana, their eyes met for a brief moment, and they gave her a smirk before continuing on. Very odd, indeed.

"Alright, back to business."

Anko began to explain the ins and outs of the exam. They had five days to collect both halves of a set of scrolls; one heaven and one earth scroll. She held up both so everyone could see what they looked like. After that, they had to bring both scrolls to a tower in the center of the forest; all within the five day time limit. Only then could the scrolls be opened; under no circumstances were they to be opened before then.

' _This is starting to sound like one of our retrieval missions.'_ Hana thought.

They had been assigned missions with a similar pretense in the past. Now they just had to add an extra element of survival into the mix. It didn't seem like a big deal to Hana. But, then again, there was always the possibility that something could go wrong. She needed to be careful and not get too confident.

"Oh, and before you all go rushing into the forest, we need you to sign these release forms. This way we won't be held responsible if anything happens to you in there." Anko said, holding up a stack of papers.

Geez, talk about blunt. From the way she spoke, Hana was able to make the assumption that she didn't what happened to them during the exam. It didn't matter if they were native to Konoha or not. To be fair though, that assumption was based on her own personal bias towards the village. That grudge wasn't going away, even after a decade had passed.

As Hana and her team were reading over the release forms, Hana kept glancing back at the Kusagakure genin that she had seen earlier. She just couldn't figure out why they seemed so familiar, and it was driving her crazy. It was making it really hard for her to focus.

She elbowed Mamoru in the side a couple of times to get his attention.

"Hey, Mamoru, stop readin' for a second, would ya?"

"Hm?"

Mamoru looked up from his paper and turned his attention to his teammate.

"What's up? Is something wrong?"

Hana made a subtle gesture towards to Kusa genin.

"Does that guy over there look familiar to you? I swear I've seen 'em somewhere before. Just can't put my finger on it."

Mamoru took a good look at the Kusa-nin. Some of their features looked familiar to him as well; notably the clothes and the hair.

"His clothes are similar to Orochimaru-sama's. Same with the hair."

"Yeah, I noticed that, too. He looks a lot like Orochimaru, doesn't he?"

Mamoru shrugged.

"I guess. They'd look more alike if Orochimaru-sama was, ya know, normal."

Hana covered her mouth to stifle her laughter. Orochimaru did have a rather...abnormal appearance. The similarities between the two must have been coincidental.

"I might be overthinking this a little."

"Clearly. It's probably just a coincidence."

"Yeah. Could be."

Still, something about them didn't sit right with Hana. The look they gave her earlier...she had seen it before. She was all too familiar with that knowing smirk.

She shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts and went right back to reading her form. Once they all had finished reading the forms and had signed them, they went over to the tent to receive their scroll. They handed over their forms and they were given a scroll- an earth scroll- in exchange.

Hana took the scroll and placed it in her bag for safe keeping. They began walking to their assigned gate, and, as they were walking, Asuka sidled up to Hana and nudged her arm with her elbow.

Hana gave her a very unamused side glance.

"What's the problem?" she asked.

Asuka, ignoring the dirty look she had received, leaned over and whispered in Hana's ear.

"I don't wanna alarm you or anything, but there were a couple of guys from Takigakure staring at you earlier."

Hana stopped dead in her tracks. She hadn't noticed anyone staring at her; she had been preoccupied with other matters. Her eyes went wide and she could feel her chest tightening. A serious chill crawled up her spine. Needless to say, she was seriously and thoroughly creeped out.

Asuka sighed and shook her head.

"I had a feeling you'd react that way. Look, don't worry about it; maybe they thought you were cute or something. Besides, we might not even see them during the rest of the exam. So just relax, would ya?"

Easier said than done. Asuka never had anyone leer at her menacingly before, but Hana certainly had. Yahiro would give her that look whenever he was angry with her; which, in all honesty, happened quite frequently. So now she was trying to figure out what she could have possibly done to make those guys mad. She had never spoken to them. So why were they looking at her like that.

Hana shook her head to try and shake off the paranoia. It was probably nothing, and her nerves were just getting to her.

Yeah, that was it. Just nerves.

"You gonna be alright?" Asuka questioned, a bit concerned about her teammate.

Hana nodded as she took off her headband to wipe the sweat from her forehead.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. That...just brought up a memory that I'd really like to forget." she muttered.

"Oh…! S-sorry about that…" Asuka replied.

Asuka knew very little about Hana's past, but she knew that certain things could set her off and possibly cause her to melt down. She tried her best to watch what she said, but there were times when she would forget and slip up. Like today.

She was going to have to be more careful, especially during the remainder of the exams.

Hana shook her head again before putting her headband back on.

"It's not your fault. That's just the way my mind is. Can't really help it." she stated.

Hana had long since resigned herself to that fact. There were mental scars that were never going to heal completely due to the trauma she suffered as a child. She tried her best to keep it all bottled up, but there was only so much that she could do. It wasn't Asuka's fault; not at all.

The three remained silent as they waited for the gates to open. They were all nervous, and a little impatient. Time seemed to tick by ever so slowly.

Anko kept a close eye on her stopwatch, and when it hit zero, she smirked.

"Alright, open the gates! The second exam begins...NOW!"

The sentinels opened the gates and all of the teams rushed through and into the dark forest. They all had one goal in mind; gather the scrolls and be the first ones to the tower.

The three Oto genin moved quickly through the trees in search of a safe place to set up camp. Once they found a place, then they would discuss their game plan for completing this exam.

They stopped in a secluded place not far from a source of water; they could faintly hear running water from where they were standing. Hana gave the place a once over before turning to her teammates.

"What do you think? Should we set up camp here?" she asked.

Mamoru and Asuka looked around for a moment and nodded in agreement.

After spending a few minute familiarizing themselves with their surroundings, they gathered around to discuss their game plan.

"So, if there aren't any objections, I'll hold on to the scroll." Hana stated.

Neither teammate had any objections, so the moved on to the next order of business.

"How should we go about looking for the other scroll?" Mamoru asked.

Hana stood up and stretched out her arms.

"I think we should scout out the other teams and see which one has the heaven scroll. Probably a weaker team that we can pick off easily." she replied.

Mamoru and Asuka stood up as well, ready to go off and begin their search.

"So I guess we should start now and meet back here later?" Asuka questioned.

Hana gave it some thought, but it didn't take long for her to make a decision. In her mind, she believed it was the best move for them.

"Yeah, I think we should. The sooner we get started, the sooner we can finish. We'll meet back here in three hours. Got it?" she stated.

"Got it!" the others replied in unison.

Asuka and Mamoru leapt into the trees and began their mission, leaving Hana alone in the clearing. However...even though she was clearly alone, she felt like someone was watching her. Watching every move she made like a predator on the hunt.

The unease crept up Hana's spine like a spider.

Whoever had their eyes on her...wasn't human.


	14. The Second Exam: Day Two

Chapter Fourteen: The Second Exam - Day Two

Their first night in the forest passed by without incident. All was quiet, save for the distant, on-and-off screaming from other genin. Their campsite was well hidden and there were no attacks on them during the night. But that didn't stop them from sleeping in shifts; better to be cautious than be picked off by an enemy.

Mamoru located a team that had the scroll they needed; a different group of genin from Kusagakure. They all agreed to start tailing them the next morning and attack when their guard was down. They also took the time to come up with a decent strategy; Mamoru would attack first with one of his wind style jutsu, Asuka would trap them with fire-style and Hana would follow up with earth-style.

When morning came, they set out to search for their targets. They spent three uneventful hours tailing the group before they stopped to rest. That was their chance to attack.

Mamoru was up first. He jumped from his perch in the trees and into the bushes below. The rustling of the leaves startled the Kusa genin and they began to search frantically for the source of the sound. They had no such luck. Their panicked state gave Mamoru the perfect opportunity to strike.

His hands moved quickly as he formed his hand signs and whispered the name of his jutsu.

"Wind-style: Great Breakthrough!"

The air around them began to swirl violently and it stung and sliced away at their skin. The wind gained strength until it was almost as powerful as a typhoon. The force of the wind knocked the Kusa genin to the ground, which meant it was Asuka's turn to attack.

'Fire-style: Flame Wall!'

She expelled the flames from her mouth and they formed a wall that surrounded their targets with inescapable flames. The Kusa genin ran about frantically in a vain attempt to escape. But they were trapped.

Hana was absolutely loving how the scene was playing out before her. She was grinning madly as she watched the Kusa genin scramble around like headless chickens. She couldn't help but laugh; it was all quite humorous to her.

Maybe Orochimaru's antics were rubbing off on her a bit too much.

But she couldn't just sit back and watch, oh, no.

She had a job to do.

"Earth-style: Earth and Stone Bamboo Shoot!"

The ground began to quake beneath their feet and all three Kusa genin stopped dead in their tracks. Giant earthen spike emerged from the ground and aimed themselves at the three, but Hana didn't send them flying just yet. Instead, she called she called out to them.

"Unless you wanna get hurt, surrender your scroll to us. We know you have the one we need." she called.

The lone female answered her call.

"No way! If you want our scroll then you'll have to come get it yourself! We're not surrendering!"

Hana sighed; that wasn't exactly the answer that she was looking for. But if that's the way things had to be, then so be it.

She made a motion with her hand and the spike crashed down into the earth. The Kusa genin somehow managed to dodge them all and took up fighting stances once they were back on their feet.

Hana, Mamoru and Asuka all leapt into the circle of flames to confront their targets face to face.

"I'm gonna give you one last chance to hand over your scroll. Things will get real ugly if you don't" Hana stated.

It was only fair to give them a second chance and make their choice to fight or run. In her mind it was the polite thing to do, even though she already knew what their answer would be.

"We're not just gonna hand it over! You're gonna have to fight us for it!"

Hana sighed again. This wasn't going to be as easy as she had hoped.

"Alright then, if that's the way it's gonna be…"

She raised her hand slowly, keeping her eyes on the Kusa genin and smirking upon seeing the fear in their eyes.

"Striking Shadow Snakes!"

A mass of dark green, writhing serpents emerged from the long sleeve of her shirt and launched themselves towards the three. Only two were able to avoid being ensnared by the snakes. He struggled to free himself and that agitated them.

"I'd advise against struggling. Struggling makes them mad, and if they get mad they'll bite." Hana warned.

But he didn't listen. He kept thrashing about, trying to make the serpents release him. Just like Hana said, some of the snakes became angry and bit him on his arms and legs. He cried out in agony as the creatures sunk their fangs into his flesh and injected their venom into his bloodstream. Luckily it wouldn't kill him; just leave his paralyzed for a couple of days.

Hana called the serpents back and they dropped the kid and let him hit the ground.

"I warned you."

The female team member rushed over to her teammate's side and then glared at Hana.

"What did you do to him?!" she shouted.

"Relax, he's just paralyzed. He'll be back to normal in a couple of days." Hana replied with a wave of her hand.

Then, out of nowhere, Hana found herself on the ground with a sore jaw and a split lip.

"Nice hit. I wasn't expecting that." she muttered.

Hana got back on her feet and rushed towards the other girl. She struck her in the chest with her knee and delivered a kick to the same place right after. As the other girl staggered back, she was thrown into the air and kicked in the stomach several times before being thrown to the ground.

The other girl lost consciousness upon impact with the ground. That was two down; only one more to go.

The last one was scared, terrified even, and it showed on his face. Hana could see him trembling as she approached him.

He reached around and fumbled for something in his bag before pulling out their scroll and holding it out towards Hana.

"H-Here! Just take it and leave us alone!" he shouted.

Hana was taken aback for a moment. He was willingly giving up and not putting up a fight. Was he really that freaked out?

Hana was wary of this. For all she knew, this could very well be a trap. She stood a safe distance away, with her hand gripped tightly around the hilt of her wakizashi and her eyes locked on him.

"You're planning on just giving it to us?" she questioned.

"Yes! J-Just take it and go!" he replied.

She raised an eyebrow at him; she wasn't buying it. Something was up.

"Do forgive me, but I'm having a hard time believing you. After all that, you're just gonna hand over your scroll without a fight?"

Fed up, he threw the scroll and it landed at Hana's feet.

"Just take the damn scroll! We've suffered enough damage already, and I have to make sure that my teammates aren't attacked while they're knocked out."

From what he said, it seemed like he was more concerned about the safety of his friends than passing the exam. On the other hand, he could be trying to save his own hide and keep from getting knocked out. Either way, he seemed sincere about giving up.

She was cautious in picking up the scroll, still wary of the situation. Sure, he looked scared, but appearances could be deceiving. She kept her eyes on him, waiting for him to make a move. But he didn't.

She put the scroll away; the encounter was over, but the uneasy feeling didn't go away. She was on edge for a while, even after they had returned to their campsite. Something wasn't sitting right with her.

Both Asuka and Mamoru noticed this and they started to worry. Seeing Hana on edge like this wasn't a good sign.

"Something bothering you?" Asuka asked.

Hana only spared Asuka a passing glance.

"Something doesn't feel right…" she muttered.

"What do you mean?"

Hana looked around for a moment, making sure that no one else could hear her.

"I feel like we're being watched."

It felt like there were multiple sets of eyes focussed on them, watching their every move. It gave Hana chills.

"It's more than one person, too. I don't know how many, but there's at least three."

Asuka didn't sense what Hana did. She couldn't feel the eyes watching them. But she would try to be supportive of her teammate and not argue.

"Okay, something clearly does have you stressed out. Why don't you go down to the river and get some water; your canteen is probably close to empty." she said.

She wasn't sure how getting water would help her relax, but she would give it a shot. Anything to get her mind off of things. She took her canteen and left the rest of her belongings behind; including her wakizashi. She followed the sound of running water until she reached a break in the foliage where the river was. Hana sat down on the bank of the river and refilled her canteen.

It was quiet and oddly peaceful here. It was strange, considering the fact that there were dozens of genin fighting all around the forest. But she took advantage of the silence and let her guard down for a moment, a mistake that she would soon regret.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by the sound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs. Hana froze in place out of fear. Her heart started to beat wildly and her breathing became fast and shallow.

Someone was coming towards her, and they had very ill intentions.


	15. Cornered

Chapter Fifteen: Cornered

Hana sat motionless on the riverbank. She was frozen; her body remained still while her brain screamed at her to get up and run. Her heart was beating loud and fast; it felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. She didn't want to turn around, but her body moved on its own. She turned her head to catch a glimpse of the person approaching her.

Out of the brush stepped three ninja from Takigakure. Hana felt her heart stop for a moment when she saw them; were these the guys Asuka had seen?

She was praying that they weren't. But luck didn't seem to be on her side.

"Looks like we found her, boss."

"Yeah. Took her long enough to separate from her teammates."

So these were the guys that were staring at her the day before, and they must have been the ones that had been watching her and her group. This was bad; this was very, very bad. She had to get out of here quick.

"Wh-Who are you? What do you want?" she asked nervously.

The taller man laughed, amused at how nervous she was. He was happy that his target was scared; it made things much more interesting.

"I guess we should tell you. It's only fair that we do." he said.

The leader of the group stepped towards Hana, putting her on edge even more. She didn't want any of them getting close to her. He was a couple of yards away from her when he stopped.

"We're not actually here for the chunin exams. We're part of an underground organization that supplies wealthy individuals, such as feudal lords, with servants and...other hired help."

It took a moment for Hana to realize who these people were. They were traffickers.

"What does any of this have to do with me?" she questioned.

The man smirked and it sent chills down Hana's spine. His smirk wasn't confident or cocky, but malicious and sinister.

"One of our clients is looking for a young lady to serve as...a lady-in-waiting for his oldest daughter. He gave certain criteria for us to follow, and you match every single category." he replied.

That was a lie, and Hana knew it. Why would a nobleman hire an underground organization to find a lady-in-waiting for his daughter? Wouldn't it be easier to just send a message to different villages saying that he was looking for someone to fill the position? It didn't make sense, and when Hana realized what their client was really after, all of the color drained from her face.

"Now, don't make a fuss. It'll be easier for everyone if you come along quietly." he said, walking closer.

He reached out his hand to touch her shoulder, but Hana slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted.

The man scowled. He hadn't expected her to try and put up a fight. If she kept resisting they would have to use force.

Hana backed away and reached for the hilt of her wakizashi, only to find that she didn't have it with her. She had left it at camp!

"Shit!"

She was unarmed, save for the few kunai in the bag attached to her waist. If she couldn't find something to use against them, she was screwed. She fumbled around in her bag as the man slowly drew closer. A kunai wasn't going to cut it; she couldn't engage them directly. She was far outnumbered and, most likely, outclassed. She had to make a break for it and get back to her teammates.

Her eyes widened for a moment when her hand brushed against something round in the bag. After fumbling around a moment more, she realized they were smoke bombs.

Yes! She found her escape method!

The man glared at her; he was angry with her for making his job more difficult than it should be.

"Resisting won't help you; you'll only get yourself hurt. Our client doesn't want us to deliver damaged goods." he stated.

Hana took another step back.

"I'm not going anywhere with you." she replied.

She pulled the smoke bombs from the bag and threw them, all three detonating upon making contact with the ground. Hana used the thick smokescreen to make her escape and she made a beeline for the trees. She kept running as fast as she could, only stopping for a moment to catch her breath. That's when she heard the men shouting.

"Spread out and search for her! If we don't find her, we don't get paid!"

"She couldn't have gotten too far! Make sure to search the underbrush; she could be hiding there!"

She had to keep running. She couldn't let them catch her!

So, she did just that. Hana ran through the thick brush, hoping that the low hanging branches, brambles, large stones and exposed roots would be enough to keep them far enough away so she could get back to her teammates safely.

But it soon became difficult for her to breathe due to her running and panicking. By now she was wheezing and was about to pass out. Against her better judgement, she hid in the hollow section of a large tree; someone had hollowed it out years before. She sat there for a few minutes, huddled against the very back and trying to catch her breath. When she heard a noise, no matter how small, she flinched. She was terrified of being found.

She finally calmed down after a few minutes, thinking that she was safe and could continue running. But first she looked out from the hole in the tree and observed her surroundings; she didn't see or hear anything. It seemed like she had lost them.

"Phew...looks like I lost 'em. That was close." she said.

Her blood ran cold when she heard a voice coming from behind her.

"Heheheheh...not close enough!"

She whipped her head around and saw one of the men emerging from the wall of the hollowed out tree. Then, it dawned on her that he had been there the entire time she had been hiding.

She screamed bloody murder as she tried to escape from the man. But he used the chain on his kusari-gama to trip her and drag her back towards him. Desperate, she dug in her bag a pulled out a kunai. But, even though she was ready to fight back, she still kept struggling to escape. She clawed at the ground and grabbed hold of an exposed root, but he was stronger. He grabbed hold of her ponytail, causing her to wince.

The man laughed at her.

"What are you going to do now, little rabbit? You can't run anymore!" he laughed.

No, she couldn't run, but she could do something else. Hana gripped the kunai in her hand and then she rammed the blade into the man's eye.

The man screamed in agony as the blade pierced his eye. His grip on Hana's hair loosened and he released her as he made desperate attempts to pull the knife out, splattering blood everywhere.

"You little bitch! What the fuck did you do to me?!" he shouted.

Hana didn't respond. She just...stood there, shocked at what she had done. Then, to her horror, the man yanked the knife free from his eye socket, taking the eyeball with it. The sight made her nauseous, but fear soon overtook the nausea and she took off running once more. She knew that her now half-blind attacker would pursue her once he had gotten his bearings.

As she ran, she felt a sharp pain in her right leg. The sudden pain caused her to stumble and hit the ground rolling down the embankment. When she stopped, she looked down at her injured leg and saw that a kunai had been lodged in her thigh.

"I don't have time for this!" she said as she pulled the knife from her leg.

The wound was deeper than she had originally thought, since it had been pushed in deeper when she fell. The wound bled freely and she needed to get it stitched up before she lost too much blood. But when she got back up and tried to run, something grabbed her leg and pulled her back down.

One of her attackers had used an earth-style jutsu to sneak up on her after wounding her. She kicked at the offending hand to try and force them them to release her, but that only caused them to tighten their grip. Hana became desperate and she tried clawing at the ground to give herself more leverage to escape.

Her captor emerged from the ground, grinning madly at her desperate attempts to escape.

"Sorry, but this is as far as you go." he said.

Hana was unaware of the dark figure creeping up behind her. When the man suddenly released her, she tried to run again. But then, everything went black.

When she came to, Hana found lying on the ground and felt a sharp pain in her head. After a minute or so, the pain subsided and she could hear men's voices once it had gone completely. She stayed perfectly still and listened.

There were only two of them; it seemed like the one who lost his eye didn't make it back to the rest of the team. Their discussion involved how they were going to deliver her to their client and how much money they would lose for delivering damaged goods.

They were speaking of her so callously, as if she were nothing more than a couple of sacks of rice to be sold at the local market. She was furious and she wasn't going to let them get away with any of this. She was going to escape.

She had to be careful so she wouldn't get caught again. She turned her head slowly to assess the situation; both men had their backs turned to her and were mulling over what Hana assumed to be their contract. She believed that this would be the perfect time to make a run for it.

She pushed herself up off the ground but was only able to take a few steps before she was grabbed by her hair and violently pulled back to the ground and dragged to where the men were standing. The leader had had enough of her antics and kicked her in the stomach; hard.

"You insufferable piece of shit! You've caused us enough trouble already, and you still try to escape! Why won't you just accept your fate?!" he shouted, kicking her again.

Hana sat up slowly, wiping away the blood that was trickling from the corner of her mouth.

"I refuse...to be locked away and used by some freak. Or be sold like livestock so that you can make some quick cash! I'm not an animal!" she replied as she stood to her feet.

The man grit his teeth and clenched his fist before rearing back and striking Hana across the face. Then he took his weapon - a weighted bo staff- and began striking her with it. Hana managed to cover her head after the first strike to keep him from damaging any part of her face or head.

The force behind each strike was great. He was using that amount of force on purpose in order to get a point across to her.

"The only thing you small-town kunoichi are good for is being a feudal lord's plaything! You're worth nothing in the shinobi world; none of you are! You all would be better off if you just accepted your fate!"

He paused for a moment, breathing heavily and looking down at bruised and bloodied young woman lying at his feet.

In one last act of defiance, Hana raised a shaky, bloody hand and proudly displayed her middle finger.

"Fuck...you." she spat.

The man, now enraged, raised his staff over his head and prepared to strike her down once and for all. Hana shut her eyes tight and waited for his finishing blow. But...it never came. Instead, she heard ungodly screams coming from both men and the disgusting sound of flesh being ripped apart. Then silence.

She felt someone place their hand on her shoulder, only this time the touch wasn't rough. In fact, it was very familiar to her. She relaxed her tensed shoulders and opened her eyes. Well, one of them; the other was swelling shut after being struck in the face twice. She focussed on the other's face, only able to make out blurred lines and colors. But she could recognize them just by the blurred colors alone.

She smiled weakly, blood still dripping from her nose and the corner of her mouth.

"Oro-" was all she managed to say before she lurched forward, reeling from the wave of pain that just struck her. Her entire body ached but that was alright. Pain was good; pain meant that she was still alive.

She was in bad she, but still alive. Her face was badly bruised, with one eye almost swollen shut and a possible cut on her scalp. She had struggled to escape her captors, indicated by the cuts on her hand and legs and the dirt under her fingernails. There was also the possibility of a concussion due to how hard she had been hit. But she was still alive, albeit a bit delirious.

"It seems I arrived at just the right time. A moment later and they would have killed you." he said.

It was only at that moment that Hana realized how close she had actually been to dying. Her smiling face warped into a look of sheer terror. How could she let herself get to that point? She was a ninja and she had been taught by one of the strongest in the world. How could she let this happen? Not only that, but Orochimaru had to come in and rescue her. What kind of ninja was she if she couldn't even protect herself?

She was an embarrassment. A failure. A disgrace to her village.

She knew what failure meant. In Otogakure, failure of this magnitude meant death. She had seen it happen before. She thought she was better than them, making sure that every mission was successful. She had been so proud, but now she had fallen, and fallen hard.

Her iminent and deserved demise never came, however, and it left her very confused. She looked back at him, the frightened expression still on her face, but didn't see anger in his. In fact, he seemed…calm. Tranquil fury most likely.

But he helped her back onto her feet. He didn't leave her behind.

"Why…aren't you leaving me behind? I couldn't protect myself…I'm a failure." she muttered.

"You're far too valuable. I'd be losing a very important asset if I left you out here to die. In fact, I'm actually proud of you for being defiant. Although, you could have been less vulgar." he replied.

She laughed, finding humor in his words. However, the tears now falling from her eyes betrayed her. She wasn't sad, but very relieved; she wouldn't be dying today.

Orochimaru paid no attention to her tears and didn't question why she was crying. He knew how she was feeling now; he felt a similar way. But now wasn't the time for sentiment; he to get her back to the rest of her group and make sure she got there safely.

"Come. I will escort you back to your group. I think it would be wise to avoid any more unfortunate encounters, wouldn't you agree?" he questioned.

Hana nodded and followed close behind him as he led her away from the bloody carnage surrounding them.

"Something isn't right here. Don't you think she should have been back by now?" Asuka questioned.

Mamoru sat up and stretched, feeling his joints pop.

"Yeah, she really should have. Do you think we should go look for her?"

Asuka nodded.

"I think we should; she might be in trouble."

They were just about to venture off when they heard rustling in the underbrush. Asuka and Mamoru both went into defense mode and prepared to attack whoever- or whatever- had encroached on their space. But they relaxed when they saw Hana stagger out of the brush.

"Hey." she muttered.

Asuka's eyes went as wide as dinner plates when she saw the condition that Hana was in. She looked like she had been in a massive brawl; and lost.

"Holy shit! What the hell happened to you?!" she shouted.

Hana laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Well...you know those Takigakure guys that were starin' at me the other day?"

"Yeah. What about 'em?"

Hana was silent for a moment.

"Turns out they were actually traffickers and they had set their sights on me for some reason."

Both Mamoru and Asuka were absolutely dumbfounded by this revelation. How on earth could a group of traffickers manage to infiltrate the Chunin Exams? Konoha's security must have been extremely lackluster in order to miss something like that.

"So how did you end up like this?" Mamoru questioned.

Hana leaned against a tree and sighed.

"Well, I ran off, got caught, ran off again, got caught again, got knocked out, came to and tried to run again, didn't make it that time and one of them decided to beat the shit outta me." she answered.

There was a moment of awkward silence after Hana finished her explanation. Hana just shrugged.

"That's the abridged version, anyway. I don't want to bore you with the details. Although I did manage to take out one of their eyes." she stated.

"Really?"

"Yep. Jammed a kunai right up in there. Hopefully he bled out."

Again there was silence. The other two really didn't know how they were supposed to respond to any of this; especially Hana's rather calm demeanor. That was very strange, given that she had been attacked and beaten to a pulp.

"You're being awfully calm about this," Asuka said, "What's up with that?"

A quiet chuckle escaped Hana's lips. Her teammate really was daft; she couldn't even see just how shaken she really was.

"I'm trying not to break down; this is neither the time nor the place for that." she muttered.

As Asuka looked closer, she saw that Hana's whole body was trembling. She really was trying to hold herself together and not break down. Asuka wasn't sure how she was doing it, but was impressed either way.

"I need to rest for a while," Hana said, walking to where her belongings lay, "Once I've recovered some, we should start heading for the tower."

Mamoru and Asuka both agreed.

Hana lay down on the soft grass, resting her head on her bag. She was still in pain; a dull ache radiated throughout her body. She would be like this for a while, but the pain should go away soon; a day or so at least.

Hana sighed and closed her eyes. Hopefully she would be granted a moment's rest. After what she had just been through, she certainly deserved it.


End file.
